'^^m^ 


SHORT  HISTORY 


OF 


THE  REFORMATION 


JOHN  F.  HURST,  D.D. 


BR  305  .H87  1884 
Hurst,  J.  F.  1834-1903 
Short  history  of  the 
reformation 


/ 


^/.i: 


SHORT  HISTOl^ ,  lo  i96^  ^ 

THE  REFORMATION      ] 


BY 


JOHN   F.  HUKSi;  D.D. 


WIl'H  ILLUSTRATIONS 


SEAL  OP   MARTIN  LUTHER 


NEW   YORK 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIX  SQUARE 

1884 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  j'ear  1884,  by 

Harper  k  Brothers, 
In  tlie  Oflicc  of  tlic  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


All  rights  reserved. 


CONTENTS. 


CUAP.  PAQB 

I.  The  Heralds  of  Protestantism 1 

II.  The  Humanism  op  Italy 17 

III.  The  Reformatory  Councils 23 

IV.  The  German  Reformation  :   Martin  Luther, 

FROM  his  Birth  to  the  Retirement  in  the 

Wartburg  Castle.— 1483-1520 27 

V.  Luther:  Further  Labors  and  Personal  Char- 
acter.—1520-1546      37 

VI.  Melanchthon  and  other  German  Reformers  45 

VII.  The  Reformation  in  German  Switzerland    .  51 

VIII.  The  Reformation  in  French  Switzerland     .  56 
IX.  The    English    Reformation. — First    Period, 

1509-1553 67 

X.  The  English  Reformation. — Second   Period, 

1553-1603 76 

XL  The  Scotch  Reformation 81 

XII.  The  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands.     .     .  85 

XIII.  The  Reformation  in  France 90 

XIV.  The  Reformation  in  Italy 96 

XV.  The  Reformation  in  Spain  and  Portugal     .  103 

XVI.  The  Reformation  in  Scandinavia 107 

XVII.  The  Reformation  in  the  Slavic  Lands.     .     .  109 

XVIII.  Survey  op  Results 112 

XIX.  The  400th  Anniversary  op  Luther's  Birth   .  116 

INDEX 119 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portrait  of  Luther Frontispiece, 

Map  of  CeinTRAL  Europe To  face  page    1 

Castle  of  Wartburg .     "35 

Portrait  of  Calvin .     .     "63 


SHORT  HISTORY  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 


Chapter   I. 

THE    HERALDS    OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

1.  The  Reformation,  like  all  great  historical  move- 
ments, was  of  slow  and  unattractive  development. 
Long  in  coming  into  notice,  it  was  equally  long  in 
finding  its  champions.  The  cause  was  waiting  for  its 
men,  and  when  the  need  was  supreme  they  appeared, 
with  heroic  spirit,  great  organizing  genius,  and  amaz- 
ing power  of  endurance.  Protestantism  was  an  oak 
of  young  and  vigorous  growth  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  16th  century,  but  its  roots  lay  deep  in  the  soil 
of  the  14th.  The  Reformation  possessed  two  charac- 
teristics— one  national,  with  all  the  individuality  that 
might  be  expected  of  race  and  land  ;  the  other  cosmo- 
politan, having  general  fibre  and  color,  always  the 
same,  whatever  the  country  or  people,  from  Norway 
to  the  Alps,  and  from  Transylvania  to  the  Bay  of 
Biscay.  The  Reformation  has  proved  to  be  the  chief 
turning-point  in  modern  history.  It  is  that  great  re- 
ligious and  intellectual  revolution  which  marks  the 
boundary -line  between  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Mod- 
ern Period.  The  call  for  regeneration  was  deep  and 
loud.  Superstition  had  become  interwoven  with  the 
pure  doctrine  of  the  Gospel.     The  morals  of  the  cler- 

1 


2  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

gy,  from  the  papacy  clown  to  the  humblest  monks, 
had  become  corrupt.  The  highest  ecclesiastical  offices 
were  reached  by  vicious  means.  The  common  people 
were  purposely  kept  in  ignorance.  Against  these  evils, 
ruinous  at  once  to  intellect  and  soul,  the  Reformers 
made  their  bold  protest,  and  called  upon  the  people  to 
rally  to  their  standard.  Their  aim  was,  at  first,  a  puri- 
fication of  the  Church  within  itself,  and  by  its  own 
servants.  This  proved  a  total  failure.  The  next  step 
was  to  withdraw  from  the  fold,  and  establish  an  inde- 
pendent confession  and  a  separate  ecclesiastical  struct- 
ure. This  succeeded  ;  and  the  result  is  that  vast  and 
aggressive  sisterhood  of  Protestant  churches  which 
exists  to-day  in  all  the  advanced  countries  of  the 
world. 

2.  The  Pioneers  of  Reform  in  religious  life  and  doc- 
trine were  obscure,  and  some  of  the  very  names  have 
not  become  known  to  history.  But  their  work  was 
heroically  performed.  Protestantism,  when  it  emerged 
from  its  seclusion,  and  became  a  thing  of  the  noonday, 
had  the  great  benefit  of  a  slowly-laid  and  solid  basis. 
But  not  all  the  predecessors  of  the  successful  reformers 
of  the  16th  century  w^ere  unknown  men.  Some  of 
them,  a  few  in  each  country  which  took  its  place  in 
the  community  of  Protestant  nations,  have  become  fa- 
miliar names,  and  belong  in  the  same  front  line  with 
the  Reformers  themselves.  It  is  not  difficult  to  ac- 
count for  the  failure  of  those  first  workers  for  the  re- 
ligious regeneration  of  Europe.  More  than  one  gen- 
eration is  always  needed  to  achieve  a  moral  revolution. 
A  work  that  shall  last  for  the  ages  requires  a  larger 
and  longer  sacrifice  than  a  few  calm  toilers  through  a 
few  decades.  The  heralds  of  the  Reformation  trod  in 
new  paths.     They  labored  steadily  on,  without  a  single 


THE    HEEALDS    OF    PROTESTANTISM.  3 

encouraging  precedent,  and  ran  the  constant  risk  of  los- 
ing their  heads.  An  archbishop's  voice  could  silence 
behind  the  bolted  doors  of  the  London  Tower  the  loud- 
est protesting  voice  in  Britain,  while  the  mere  roll-call 
of  the  Council  of  Constance  could  hasten  even  Huss  to 
the  stake.  When  the  real  Reformers  came  upon  the 
scene  of  action,  especially  in  Germany,  the  risk  of  los- 
ing life  was  not  so  great.  Charles  V.  aped  towards 
the  Protestants  the  charity  of  Julian  the  Apostate 
towards  all  the  faiths  of  the  later  Roman  Empire. 
Hence,  while  Charles  V.  was  Emperor  of  Germany,  he 
openly  favored  moderate  measures  towards  the  Prot- 
estants ;  that  is  to  say,  all  repressive  methods  must 
be  adopted  except  death  itself. 

In  Holland,  however,  Charles  V.  dealt  out  death  with 
merciless  hand.  In  his  commands  to  his  son,  Philip  II., 
in  whose  favor  he  abdicated,  he  urged  him  to  spare  no 
pains  to  uproot  the  new  heresy.  But  there  was  a  dif- 
ference between  his  relation  to  Germany  and  to  Holland. 
Of  the  former  he  was  only  emperor  by  election.  Each 
country  had  its  separate  ruler,  and  the  civil  relations 
were  in  charge  of  the  rightful  princes.  But  Charles  V. 
was  king  over  the  Netherlands,  having  received  that 
country  by  inheritance.  Therefore,  when  the  Dutch  re- 
belled against  the  civil  authorities,  and  declared  them- 
selves Protestants  and  republicans,  it  was  a  revolution 
against  his  personal  authority.  He,  accordingly,  put  to 
death  the  Protestants  of  that  country  without  the  least 
hesitation,  while  in  Germany  he  never  went  so  far  as 
to  claim  such  rights.  In  England  the  condition  was 
still  more  encouraging  for  Protestants.  Henry  VIII. 
not  only  professed  their  faith,  but  protected  his  sub- 
jects against  all  interference  on  the  part  of  the  priest- 
hood and  the  management  of  the  pope.     In  sharp  con- 


4  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

trast  with  this  general  improvement  in  personal  safety, 
during  the  progress  of  the  Reformation,  was  that  pre- 
vious insecurity.  The  herald  of  reform  was  not  safe 
an  hour.  He  had  no  protector.  The  shedding  of  blood 
for  a  slight  offence,  especially  against  the  Church,  was 
an  easy  thing  to  bring  about.  The  secret  methods 
of  silencing  honest  speech  had  long  since  grown  into 
a  fine  art. 

3.  The  Unity  of  the  Herald  and  his  Successor.  The 
two  kinds  of  Reformers  were  happily  blended  in  the 
foreground  of  the  Protestant  picture.  The  herald  who 
cried  "  in  the  wilderness "  was  a  fit  companion  of  him 
whose  coming  he  proclaimed.  The  former,  because 
silenced  for  the  moment,  appeared  to  fail.  But  he  tri- 
umphed, in  reality,  for  to  insure  success,  through  any 
brand,  is  the  highest  success.  Victory  is  not  a  matter 
of  personality,  but  of  principles  and  ages.  The  her- 
alds of  Protestantism  taught  their  successors,  by  their 
own  experience,  what  dangers  to  avoid,  and  what  were 
the  true  forces  of  success.  Luthei:^  for  example,  in  the 
most  delicate  and  difficult  part  of  his  entire  career — 
his  relation  with  the  princes  of  Saxony — learned  from 
the  indiscretion  of  Savonarola,  in  his  dealing  with  the 
Medici  and  the  temporal  government  of  Florence,  that 
the  Reformer  is  never  fully  master  of  himself,  and  can 
never  be  the  finally  successful  leader,  unless  he  hold 
severely  aloof  from  all  political  management,  and  con- 
fine his  labors  to  the  one  work  of  religious  reform. 
Luther  saw  that  the  moment  the  Reformer  turns  aside 
from  his  work  he  is  in  danger  of  forfeiting  his  entire 
mission.  lie  has,  in  any  event,  lost  his  crown  —  the 
sublime  unity  of  moral  purpose. 

4.  The  Paris  Reformers  planted  the  first  seeds  of  Prot- 
estantism in  France.     In  the  reformatory  councils  they 


THE    HERALDS    OF    PEOTESTANTISM.  5 

spoke  strong  words  for  universal  regeneration.  The 
University  of  Paris,  where  they  taught,  was  the  scene 
of  their  hard,  hotly  contested,  and  unrequited  labor. 
Peter  d'Ailly,  born  1350  and  died  1425,  contributed 
largely  towards  awakening  a  desire  for  a  thoroughly 
new  religious  life  in  priesthood  and  people.  His  gen- 
ius ripened  early.  He  saw  the  vanity  of  the  prevail- 
ing scholasticism,  and  applied  its  better  qualities  to 
Biblical  interpretation.  He  laid  before  the  Council 
of  Constance  a  plan  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church, 
which  proved  of  no  avail.  He  nullified  his  own  work, 
however,  and  stained  his  otherwise  fair  fame  by  voting 
for  the  condemnation  of  Huss.  He  never  withdrew 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  died  in  discon- 
tent with  the  evils  which  he  failed  to  remedy.  His 
great  service  lay  in  the  distrust  which  he  created  tow- 
ards the  papal  authorities,  and  in  the  dissatisfaction 
with  the  Church  which  pervaded  his  sermons,  lectures, 
and  writings,  and  which  in  time  became  a  dangerous 
factor  against  the  Romanism  of  the  land. 

6.  John  Charlier  Gerson,  born  1363,  and  died  1429,  was 
a  disciple  of  d'Ailly.  He  rose  to  great  pi'ominence  in 
the  University  of  Paris,  and,  withdrawing  from  scho- 
lasticism, aimed  at  the  reconciliation  of  Mysticism  with 
Christianity.  He  laid  great  stress  on  the  necessity  of 
a  pure  religious  experience,  protested  against  the  cor- 
rupt state  of  the  Church,  and  declared  that  the  two 
rival  j)opes,  in  Rome  and  Avignon,  should  be  removed, 
rather  than  that  Christians  should  be  compelled  to  en- 
dorse either  the  one  or  the  other.  His  sermons,  after 
becoming  pastor  of  a  church  in  Paris,  attracted  large 
audiences,  because  of  his  eloquence  and  his  bold  j^osi- 
tion  for  ecclesiastical  reform.  He  became  an  exile, 
because  of  the  opposition  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 


6  SHOET    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

and  only  in  his  later  life,  in  1419,  returned  to  France. 
He  resided  in  Lyons,  and  died  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
fold.  He  saw  but  little  fruit  of  his  reformatory  labors, 
and  passed  away  with  only  the  hope  that  others  might 
possess  what  he  had  striven,  in  much  sorrow  and  dis- 
appointment, to  attain.  He  was  a  transitional  charac- 
ter, possessing  the  qualities  of  both  the  Romanist  and 
the  Reformer.  For  example,  he  did  not  recognize  the 
Church  and  the  papacy,  but  the  Bible,  as  the  only  rule 
of  faith,  and  the  one  to  which  all  final  appeal  must  be 
made.  At  the  same  time  he  opposed  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  in  the  popular  language  in  the  rural  churches. 

6.  Nicholas  Clemanges,  born  1360,  and  died  about 
1440,  was  a  disciple  of  l)oth  d'Ailly  and  Gerson,  but  he 
marked  a  great  advance  beyond  them  in  reformatory 
spirit.  He  declared  that  the  councils  were  superior 
authority  to  the  papacy,  that  the  pope  was  inferior  to 
the  Council  of  Constance,  and  that  the  Bible  had  au- 
thority even  over  the  council.  He  boldly  advocated 
the  doctrine  of  the  invisible  Church,  and  held  that  the 
Church  can  only  exist  where  the  Holy  Spirit  is  pres- 
ent. He  was  an  eloquent  defender  of  the  independence 
of  the  Galilean  Church  against  the  absolute  rule  of  the 
papacy. 

7.  Ground  of  the  French  Failure.  The  Paris  theologi- 
ans failed  in  tlieir  work,  and  from  very  obvious  causes. 
They  never  withdrew  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
or  took  steps  to  establish  a  separate  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization. This  has  been  a  general  cause  of  the  failure 
of  French  reformatory  movements,  as  it  now  is  with 
Father  Hyacinthe.  When  the  final  hour  came,  the 
Paris  Reformers  hesitated  to  revolt.  They  halted, 
and  did  not  take  the  one  last  step  of  departure  from 
the  communion  which  they  could  not  love  or  approve. 


THE    HERALDS    OF    PEOTESTANTISM.  7 

Besides  this  fatal  mistake,  the  attack  of  the  Paris  the- 
ologians was  not  a  steady,  earnest,  and  specific  prog- 
ress. It  was  a  sudden  blast,  and  often  repeated,  but  not 
an  onward  march.  Some  of  the  weakest  points  of  Ro- 
manism were  entirely  overlooked  by  them.  They  ex- 
pressed, for  example,  but  little  sympathy  with  reform- 
atory measures  in  other  countries.  They  belonged  to 
the  learned  class,  moved  in  that  circle  alone,  and,  un- 
like the  German  Reformers,  who  also  arose  in  a  uni- 
versity, were  without  popular  tastes  and  affinities,  and 
had  only  a  limited,  though  cultivated,  constituency, 
during  their  whole  career.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
planted  the  seeds  of  a  permanent  popular  dislike  of  the 
prevailing  order  of  things,  and  were  the  real  and  direct 
precursors  of  the  brave  Huguenots. 

8.  The  Mystics  of  the  14th  and  15th  Centuries  arose 
as  a  spiritual  reaction  against  the  supremacy  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy.  Remotely,  they  were  an  op- 
posing school  to  all  the  immorality  and  spiritual  op- 
pression of  the  times.  They  saw  the  injury  inflicted 
on  the  Church  by  the  long  and  fruitless  discussions  of 
the  schoolmen,  and  aimed  to  call  back  the  Christian 
mind  to  the  sense  of  dependence  on  God,  the  need  of 
a  profound  religious  experience,  and  a  contemplative 
and  receptive  attitude  of  the  soul,  which  awaits  con- 
stant communications  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Mystic 
attached  too  little  importance  to  the  written  Word,  and 
magnified  the  worth  of  merely  spiritual  impressions. 
He  was  contemplative  and  rhapsodical,  and  held  him- 
self constantly  ready  for  new  revelations.  Intuitions 
were  his  second  Bible.  He  did  not  regard  monasticism 
as  the  solution  for  the  spiritual  death  of  the  times ; 
neither  did  he  think  the  best  way  to  build  up  a  new 
religious  life  was  to  separate  from  the  Church.     His 


8  SHOET    HISTORY    OF    THE    KEFOEMATION. 

thought  was,  to  preach  to  the  people,  and  awaken  them 
to  a  sense  of  their  needs,  and  thus,  from  the  centre,  to 
reform  the  whole  body  of  the  Church,  without  disturb- 
ing the  existing  economy  and  order.  The  Mystic  cared 
not  who  might  be  the  pope  of  the  hour,  or  whether 
there  was  a  pope  at  all.  He  considered  that  person- 
age a  fine  piece  of  ornamental  work,  like  a  marble  saint 
in  a  cathedral  chapel,  but  having  no  relation  to  the  gen- 
eral architecture  of  the  edifice.  The  one  concern  of 
the  Mystic  was  the  condition  of  the  individual  heart, 
the  religious  life  of  the  private  believer. 

9.  Germany  was  the  Central  Scene  and  native  country 
of  the  most  notable  reformatory  Mystics.  Master  Eck- 
art,  who  died  about  1329,  belonged  to  the  Dominican 
Order  of  monks,  and  produced  a  strong  impression  by 
his  writings  and  preaching  in  favor  of  a  purer  relig- 
ious life.  The  general  drift  of  his  teaching  was  that 
the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  are  the  only  truth,  and  that 
tliis  truth  has  its  proper  effect  in  the  purity  of  the 
heart.  We  reach  purity  by  introspection.  God  is  in 
the  soul.  We  look  outwardly  when  we  should  look 
within.  But  purity  must  be  deeply  rooted  in  the  soul, 
for  God  will  not  enter  where  there  is  an  unholy  thought. 
Many  of  Eckart's  order  pronounced  him  a  heretic,  be- 
cause of  his  fearless  speech.  The  three  fundamental 
objections  to  him  were,  his  bold  charges  of  immorality 
in  the  clergy,  his  strong  language  against  the  worship 
of  Mary,  and  the  power  of  purgatory  to  purify  a  cor- 
rupt soul. 

10.  John  Ruysbroek  was  born  in  1293.  He  became 
prior  of  the  monastery  of  Griinthal,  near  Brussels,  and 
was  tlic  founder  of  the  Dutch  Mysticism.  He  saw  a 
universal  sinfulness  in  his  age,  priests  and  people  alike 
overwhehued  and   whirled  on   bv  tlie  current  of  sin. 


THE    HERALDS    OF    PROTESTANTISM.  9 

The  prime  source  of  the  prevailing  corruption  was  the 
impurity  of  the  Church,  and  its  incapacity  to  resist 
the  temptation  of  gold  and  lust.  It  was  too  far  gone 
to  save  itself.  Even  the  popes,  said  Ruysbroek,  bowed 
the  knee  to  the  god  of  gold.  The  Church  had  no  heal- 
ing power.  Only  God  in  the  soul  could  deliver  from 
sin.  Ruysbroek  was  a  twofold  character,  contempla- 
tive and  mystical  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other, 
the  practical  and  every-day  Reformer.  He  had  two 
constituencies.  His  voice  reached  palace  and  hut  with 
equal  force. 

11.  Henry  Suso,  born  in  Suabia,  in  1300,  took  his 
name  from  that  of  his  mother's  family,  Suess,  or  Seuss, 
which  he  Latinized  into  Suso.  His  early  religious  life 
was  spent  in  self-torture  and  contemplation.  He  lived 
in  thick  gloom.  His  thought  was,  that  only  by  the  suf- 
fering of  the  flesh  could  God  be  pleased.  His  close-fit- 
ting shirt  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  nails,  with  points 
turned  towards  his  flesh,  was  his  favorite  and  royal 
robe.  He  loved  it  better  than  the  purple.  For  sixteen 
years  he  tortured  both  soul  and  body.  By  the  hear- 
ing of  Tauler,  in  Cologne,  he  was  admitted  into  larger 
liberty.  He  became  less  ascetic,  and  more  a  citizen  of 
the  world.  He  called  himself  "the  Servant  of  the 
Eternal  Wisdom,"  to  whom  he  paid  a  lover's  homage, 
as  to  a  radiant  May-queen.  He  was  passionately  fond 
of  music,  and,  wdien  in  ecstacy,  fancied  himself  in  the 
midst  of  angelic  ministers.  Of  his  book,  "  The  Horo- 
loge of  Wisdom,"  he  said  that  it  came  to  him  in  mo- 
ments of  supreme  joy,  when  he  lay  passive  in  the  pow- 
er of  the  high  inspiration.  He  summed  up  his  whole 
theology  in  the  following  :  A  meek  man  must  be  de- 
formed from  the  creature,  conformed  to  Christ,  and 
transformed  into  the  Deity.     The  entire  tendency  of 


10  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

Suso's  teacbinor  was  in  favor  of  reli2jious  reform.  His 
life  was  one  long  lament  over  the  evils  of  his  times, 
for  which  he  held  the  Church  responsible.  He  de- 
clared of  the  popes  that  good  government  had  depart- 
ed from  them,  and  that  they  thought  more  of  gold, 
and  the  putting  of  their  relatives  into  power,  than  of 
the  Church  of  God;  and  that  the  cardinals,  bishops,  ab- 
bots, teachers,  monastic  orders,  and  secular  clergy  were 
corrupt  and  debauched,  and  unworthy  their  places  of 
honor.  He  believed  that  his  whole  generation  was  so 
depraved  that  a  reformation  would  be  a  very  miracle 
of  divine  mercy.  He  feared  the  miracle  might  never 
come.  His  pleas  were  lamentations.  He  was  the  Jer- 
emiah of  the  14th  century. 

12.  John  Tauler,  born  1290,  anddied  1361,  was  a  de- 
voted disciple  of  Eckart.  He  was  more  a  man  of  the 
people  than  his  master.  He  spoke  in  plain  language, 
and  often  aroused  the  sensibilities  to  the  highest  pitch. 
He  excelled  all  the  mediieval  Mystics  in  his  burning 
zeal,  his  popular  sympathies,  and  his  profound  adher- 
ence to  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  In  this 
last  sense  Luther  followed  only  in  his  footprints.  He 
was  the  most  eloquent  preacher  of  his  times.  Stras- 
burg  was  the  chief  scene  of  his  ministry.  There  was 
such  realistic  power  in  his  preaching  that,  often,  people 
were  overcome,  and  became  insensible  during  the  de- 
livery of  his  sermons.  He  taught  that  there  are  three 
stages  possible  to  the  heart  —  nature,  grace,  and  the 
direct  shining  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  AVhen  this  last 
and  highest  stage  is  reached,  the  soul  forgets  itself, 
and  God  possesses  it  wholly.  The  human  spirit  is  as 
molten  wax,  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  its  image. 

Tauler  rebuked  tlie  priestly  pretensions  of  his  times, 
and  cried  aloud  for  each  man  to  tliink  and  feel  for  him- 


THE    HERALDS    OF    PROTESTANTISM.  11 

self.  He  declared  "  the  true  priesthood  of  every  Chris- 
tian man,"  and  insisted  that  the  Christ  should  dwell 
within  us.  Like  some  of  his  mystical  predecessors, 
whose  language  was  too  strong  for  the  fashion  of  the 
times,  he  was  threatened  with  excommunication.  But 
he  continued  his  preaching  against  the  prevailing  sins 
of  the  Church  without  serious  interruption,  and  the 
authorities  in  Rome  were  finally  compelled  to  let  him 
proceed,  as  a  person  more  dangerous  to  interfere  with 
than  to  be  at  liberty.  The  Black  Death,  a  violent 
plague,  together  with  the  papal  interdict,  rested  upon 
Strasburg.  But  Tauler's  preaching  attracted  the  entire 
population,  diverted  their  thought,  and  was  the  only 
relief  to  the  sorrow  and  suffering  of  the  people.  He 
declared  that  the  troubles  were  a  divine  visitation  be- 
cause of  the  sins  of  the  people,  and  that  only  by  re- 
pentance and  a  pure  life  could  relief  come.  His  prin- 
cipal work  was  his  "Imitation  of  the  Poor  Life  of 
Christ."  Of  all  the  Mystics,  Tauler  was  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  universal  character.  Real  goodness, 
like  genius,  is  at  home  in  every  age.  Tauler  was  not 
only  reverenced  by  the  devout  and  zealous  Christians 
of  his  own  time,  but  stands  out  as  a  grand  and  tower- 
ing figure  in  the  spiritual  world  of  all  later  periods. 
He  was  a  striking  example,  in  a  dark  age,  of  how  far 
one  man  can  lift  up  his  generation,  and  furnish  light 
for  even  later  ones  : 

"  A  voice  as  unto  him  that  hears, 

A  cry  above  the  conquered  years, 
To  one  that  with  us  works." 

When  the  Reformers  arose  they  immediately  dis- 
covered in  Tauler  a  kindred  soul,  one  in  whom  they 
found  great  joy,  and  Avho  had  contributed  largely  to 
herald  their  approach.     He  was  but  an  elder  brother 


12  SHOET    IIISTOKY    OF    THE    KEFOKMATIOX. 

to  the  groups  in  both  Wittenberg  and  Oxford.  Luther 
himself  edited  the  "Theologia  Gerraanica,"  supposed 
by  many  critics  to  have  been  written  by  Tauler.  But 
whether  by  him  or  not,  it  reflects  his  pure  spirit,  and 
that  of  all  the  better  Mystics,  and  is  singularly  in  har- 
mony with  Tauler's  preaching.  Luther  communed 
with  Tauler's  writings  as  with  a  living  and  present 
friend.  To  John  Lange  he  wrote:  "Keep  to  Tauler." 
He  gave  to  his  friend  Spelatin  the  advice:  "If  you 
would  be  pleased  to  make  acquaintance  with  a  solid 
theology  of  the  good  old  sort  in  the  German  tongue, 
get  John  Tauler's  sermons;  for  neither  in  Latin  nor 
in  our  own  language  have  I  ever  seen  a  theology  more 
sound,  or  more  in  harmony  with  the  Gospel." 

13.  The  School  of  St.  Victor  was  one  of  the  marvels 
of  the  times.  It  represented,  in  organized  and  com- 
pact form,  the  aspiration  of  the  age  for  purer  thinking, 
for  spiritual  absorption,  and  for  revolt  against  the  pre- 
vailing ecclesiastical  evils.  Within  eighty  years  of 
its  founding,  in  the  11th  century,  it  could  count  its 
thirty  abbeys  and  eighty  priories.  Its  two  most  nota- 
ble members  were  Hugo  and  Richard.  They  were  at 
once  speculative  thinkers  and  spiritual  Mystics.  They 
aimed  to  harmonize  mysticism  with  scholasticism. 
These  were  but  terms  of  the  day  for  the  two  old,  and 
still  ever  new,  names  of  revelation  and  science.  Both 
Hugo  and  Richard  saw  no  antagonism,  but  held  that 
each  was  the  complement  of  the  other.  Hugo  aimed 
to  solidify  and  clarify  spiritual  thinking  by  logical 
methods.  He  disdained  the  rigid  uniformity  of  the 
traditional  creed  of  Romanism,  and  called  for  freedom 
and  faith,  and  freedom  in  faith.  He  declared  that 
there  is  an  "  eye  of  the  soul,"  by  which  we  contem- 
plate and  see  new  truths,  and  by  them  attain  to  a 


THE    HERALDS    OF    TEOTESTANTISM.  13 

blessedness  of  the  soul  and  a  peaceful  trust  in  God 
The  common  and  natural  faculties  cannot  see  deeply. 
The  spiritual  sense  alone  is  far-sighted,  and  able  to 
apprehend,  in  the  distant  spaces,  the  spiritual  truth. 
But  we  must  guard  against  delusion.  ISTot  the  fancy, 
but  faith,  can  reveal  it  to  us. 

14.  Richard  of  St.  Victor  was  a  native  of  Scotland. 
In  1162  he  became  prior  of  the  abbey.  Ervisius  was 
the  abbot,  and  therefore  responsible  for  the  discipline. 
The  morals  in  the  abbey  had  been  at  a  very  low  ebb, 
and  Richard  saw  in  them  a  picture  of  the  moral  pros- 
tration of  his  times,  and  the  need  of  a  new  spiritual 
life.  He  regarded  mysticism  as  the  only  hope  of  re- 
lief. But  it  must  be  a  carefully  adjusted,  firm,  and 
well-rounded  system;  none  of  your  wild  and  absurd 
fancies  of  a  disturbed  brain.  Build  up  mysticism  on 
logical  scholasticism,  and  you  have  what  you  need  to 
cure  the  evils  of  the  day.  Thus  Richard  reasoned, 
and  wisely  enough;  but  when  he  came  to  touch  the 
revealed  truth  he  lost  his  balance.  He  converted  all 
Scripture  into  a  string  of  shining  allegory  and  meta- 
phor. He  surpassed  all  the  fancies  of  Origen  and  the 
Alexandrian  school,  and  found  in  the  Bible  an  illimi- 
table realm  of  truth.  No  history  or  incident  existed 
that  did  not  mean  far  more  than  the  letter  said.  He 
made  meditation  the  great  theological  basis.  Contem- 
plation was  a  height  which  could  be  reached  by  six 
steps,  the  uppermost  of  which  is  penitence.  When  the 
soul  once  stood  on  that,  it  was  above  the  low  steps  of 
imagination  and  reason,  and  was  lost  in  sublime  ecsta- 
sy. The  age  was  corrupt,  thrice  dead,  and  plucked  up 
by  the  roots,  and  nothing  could  save  it  but  purer  mor- 
als, a  return  to  better  thoughts,  and  the  coming  back 
of  the  Church  to  an  unselfish  and  zealous  spiritual  life. 


14  SHORT    HISTOKY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

15.  The  Brothers  of  the  Common  Life  were  an  associa- 
tion of  mystical  minds  who  made  it  their  aim  to  reform 
the  Church  by  a  purification  of  the  heart.  They  pLaced 
more  emphasis  on  the  regeneration  of  the  soul  than 
the  outward  organization  of  the  Church.  They  held 
that,  if  once  the  heart  is  right,  the  outward  forms  will 
soon  assume  right  shapes.  The  whole  life  must  be 
centred  in  the  love  of  God,  and  then  the  heart  will  be 
sanctified.  Thomas  a  Kempis  belonged  to  this  frater- 
nity. His  "Imitation  of  Christ"  has  always  been  a 
favorite  among  both  Romanists  and  Protestants,  and 
has  had  the  largest  circulation  of  any  book  except  the 
Bible.  It  has  been  translated  into  all  the  principal 
languages,  and  is  known  to  have  passed  through  three 
hundred  editions. 

16.  The  Friends  of  God  were  an  organization  of  lay- 
men. They  were  warm  in  their  attachment  to  the 
Roman  fold,  and  yet  were  alarmed  at  the  evils  which 
they  saw  about  them  in  both  clergy  and  laity.  This 
society  was  a  strong  proof  that  the  moral  declension 
of  the  times  was  seen  and  understood  by  devout  minds 
among  the  laymen  as  well  as  by  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel. Its  members  extended  throughout  western  Ger- 
many and  the  larger  part  of  Switzerland,  and  contrib- 
uted largely  to  prepare  the  way  among  the  people  for 
Luther  and  his  coadjutors.  Nicholas,  a  layman  of  Ba- 
sel, and  a  convert  through  the  preaching  of  Tauler, 
wrought  in  connection  with  them,  and  was  their  most 
conspicuous  representative.  Among  their  members 
must  be  reckoned  Conrad,  abbot  of  Kaisersheim;  the 
nuns  of  Unterlinden,  in  Colmar  and  Basel;  the  sisters 
of  Engelthal;  the  knights  of  Rheinfeld,  Pfaifenheim, 
and  Landsberg;  and  the  rich  merchant  Rulman  Mers- 
win.     The  love  of  God  was  the  one  universal  law  which 


THE    HERALDS    OF   PROTESTANTISM.  15 

the  Friends  of  God  insisted  upon.  They  declared  that 
the  Church  had  closed  its  doors  to  the  truth,  and  that 
the  only  hope  for  their  opening  was  a  higher  spiritual 
life.  Tauler  called  the  Friends  of  God  the  pillars  of 
Christendom,  and  the  protectors  for  a  while  from  God's 
just  cloud  of  wrath. 

17.  The  Dutch  Forerunner  of  Reform.  Holland  was 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  forward  countries  in  which 
the  spirit  of  reform  was  manifested.  The  universities 
were  the  great  fountains  whence  the  Protestant  stream 
arose,  and  from  which  it  descended  into  the  less  edu- 
cated masses.  John  Pupper,  born  about  1401,  took  the 
family  name  of  Goch  from  the  place  of  his  birth,  a 
town  near  Cleves,  and  called  himself  John  of  Goch. 
He  founded  the  Priory  of  the  Canonesses  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, in  Mechlin,  in  1451,  and  for  twenty-five  years  occu- 
pied the  office  of  Rector  or  Confessor  to  the  nuns.  He 
combined,  in  rare  harmony,  the  spiritual  and  practical. 
He  held  that  faith  must  precede  reason,  for  reason 
without  faith  is  a  blind  and  false  guide.  Scholasticism 
is  a  mere  logical  play,  and  must  be  fought  by  sound 
theological  logic,  which  draws  its  power  from  the  writ- 
ten Word  of  God.  The  scholastic  philosophy  is  false, 
because  it  is  not  based  upon  the  Bible,  but  on  Aristotle. 
His  whole  theology  has  been  strikingly  summarized 
into :  Of  God,  through  God,  and  to  God.  We  derive  all 
from  him.  He  is  our  Father,  the  Giver  and  Teacher  of 
all  good.  We  should  give  to  him  our  deepest  love  and 
supreme  confidence.  All  freedom  is  based  on  love, 
and  love  is  our  best  assurance  of  future  blessedness. 
John  of  Goch's  entire  system  of  doctrine  was  reforma- 
tory, a  protest  against  the  usual  modes  of  laying  down 
doctrine,  and  a  holding  up  of  mere  good  works  to 
contempt.     In  practical  life,  he  hurled  his  strong  lance 


16         SHORT  iiisTOEY  OF  THE  eefoematio:n-. 

against  the  sale  of  indulgences  and  the  personal  cor- 
ruption of  the  clergy. 

18.  The  Mission  of  the  Early  Dutch  Reformers  wa'j 
very  important.  They  caught  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
and  were  bold  and  defiant  in  their  protest  against  the 
immorality  of  their  day.  If  we  ask,  Why  was  it  that 
Holland  gave  such  a  prompt  and  cordial  reception  to 
the  doctrines  of  Luther  and  Calvin?  the  answer  is,  the 
soil  was  fully  prepared  for  the  precious  seed.  The 
Dutch  peoi:>le  had  been  taught,  by  these  early  preach- 
ers of  a  purer  morality,  that  the  time  was  fully  come 
for  a  new  spiritual  order.  They  did  not  know  whence 
the  light  would  break,  but  the  whole  land  was  astir 
with  a  longing  for  it,  and  an  expectation  of  its  speedy 
dawn.  Hence,  when  they  heard  the  strong  words 
from  Wittenberg  and  Geneva,  they  rejoiced  in  them 
as  the  fulfilment  of  their  hopes.  To  them  the  new 
truth  was  no  surprise.  They  had  listened  to  their 
own  prophets,  and  believed  their  burning  words. 


Chapter  II. 

the  humanism  of  italy. 

1.  The  Revival  of  Letters. — Important  general  move- 
ments, without  connection  with  prominent  characters, 
were  likewise  in  progress  to  hasten  the  approach  of 
reform.  Chief  of  these,  in  the  field  of  intellectual 
progress,  was  the  revival  of  literature,  w^hich  took  the 
name  of  Humanism.  The  studies  were  purely  human  and 
literary,  as  distinguished  from  the  theological  themes 
w^hich  had  long  held  sway  in  all  the  universities  and 
learned  circles  of  Europe.  Great  attention  w^as  given 
the  Greek  and  Latin  classical  writers.  Even  down  to 
our  time,  in  some  places,  the  literature  and  languages 
of  Greece  and  Rome  are  denominated  The  Humani- 
ties. This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  Scotch  and 
English  universities.  In  the  Italian  renaissance  of 
learning,  however,  Hebrew  also  came  in  for  its  share 
of  attention.  Political  events  had  large  share  in  pro- 
ducing this  new  turn  in  the  world's  thought.  The 
great  Italian  poets  of  the  14th  century  had  written  on 
topics  suggested  by  classical  Avriters.  Boccaccio  de- 
pended on  Greece  for  his  material,  while  Dante  and 
Petrarch  drew  their  inspiration  from  Roman  sources. 
As  notable  public  teachers  in  Italy,  who  contributed 
largely  to  the  development  of  Humanism,  not  only  in 
that  land  but  in  the  countries  north  of  the  Alps,  Chry- 
soloras  taught  Greek  literature  in  Pavia  and  Florence, 
and  John  of  Ravenna  instructed  in  Latin  literature  in 

2 


18  SHORT    HISTOEY    OF   THE    IlEFOliMATION. 

Padua  and  Florence.  A  f  urtlier  impulse  was  given  to 
Greek  studies  by  the  fruitless  attempt  made  at  the 
Council  of  Florence  to  secure  a  formal  union  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  Catholic  churches,  when  the  Byzan- 
tine emperor,  John  YII.,  Paltcologus,  was  present  in 
person,  and  Bessarion,  Archbishop  of  Niciea,  brought 
his  plan  for  the  union  of  the  long-separated  churches. 
The  points  at  issue  were  of  too  serious  a  character  for 
any  return  to  a  common  communion.  The  most  serious 
one  was  the  papal  primacy,  which  the  Roman  Catholics 
insisted  upon,  and  which  the  Greek  Church  would  not 
accept.  But  these  negotiations,  hov/ever  vain  so  far 
as  union  was  concerned,  were  exceedingly  fruitful  in 
sowing  in  Italy,  and  especially  in  the  Roman  fold,  an 
ardent  love  for  Greek  letters — not  only  for  the  Greek 
of  the  Church  writers,  but  also  for  the  productions  of 
the  purest  Attic  authors.  Greece  became,  even  to  ec- 
clesiastical scholars  and  students,  an  enchanted  land, 
whose  treasures  were  suddenly  thrown  open  for  the 
enjoyment  of  the  Avhole  learned  world. 

2.  The  Capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  in 
1453,  was  the  culmination  of  the  great  movements 
which  brought  about  a  love  for  the  classic  studies  in 
Italy.  It  was,  in  fact,  of  more  weight  than  all  other 
agencies  combined.  The  flight  of  Greek  Christians 
westward  amounted  almost  to  a  national  migration. 
Large  numbers  lied  to  Italy,  settled  along  the  Adriatic 
coast,  swarmed  into  all  the  interior  cities,  and  soon  be- 
gan to  be  felt  as  a  political  and  spiritual  force  through- 
out the  peninsula.  Rome,  Florence,  Siena,  and  all  of 
the  larger  cities  became  the  home  of  learned  Greeks, 
who  brought  with  them  the  classic  treasures  of  their 
former  country,  and  cultivated  them  in  their  new 
home  with  such  zeal  that  the  Greek  writers,  who  had 


THE    HUMANISM    OF   ITALY.  19 

been  in  obscurity  for  a  tliousand  years,  were  soon  fa- 
miliarly known  to  the  Italians.  Even  before  the  capture 
of  Constantinople,  Greek  scholars  from  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire had  entered  Italy.  Between  1420  and  1430  George 
of  Trapezium,  Theodore  Gaza,  and  John  Argyropylus 
had  taken  up  their  residence  in  Italy ;  and,  after  the 
capture,  there  came  a  multitude,  represented  by  such 
men  as  Constantine  Lascaris,  Demetrius  Chalkondylas, 
and  Emanuel  Moschopylus.  No  branch  of  Greek  let- 
ters was  overlooked.  Poetry,  eloquence,  art,  and  phi- 
losophy came  in  for  full  recognition.  Each  depart- 
ment had  its  enthusiastic  representatives.  What  Bes- 
sarion  and  Gemistius  Pletho  accomplished,  in  infatu- 
ating large  numbers  of  Italians  with  the  new  mania 
for  the  Platonic  philosophy,  was  achieved  by  others  in 
every  sphere  of  Greek  culture. 

3.  The  Revival  of  the  Latin  Classics  came  in  as  a  com- 
peting factor  with  the  Greek.  The  Italians  were  too 
jealous  of  the  triumphs  of  their  own  immortal  ancestors 
to  permit  the  Greeks  to  monopolize  attention.  Hence 
we  find  a  great  school  of  learned  Italians  laboring  ear- 
nestly for  the  re-enthronement  of  their  writers  of  the 
Augustan  age.  Gasperinus,  John  Aurispa,  Guarinus, 
Poggius,  Laurentius  Valla,  Nicholas  Perothes,  Christo- 
pher Laudinus,  and  Angelo  Politianus  were  represent- 
atives of  this  class.  The  Italian  princes  favored  the 
revival  of  both  Greek  and  Latin  letters.  The  Medici 
of  Florence,  from  1429  to  1492,  gathered  about  them 
the  most  learned  men  of  Italy,  and  patronized  every 
department  of  classic  science  and  art.  Their  court 
was  the  most  splendid  literary  centre  of  modern  times. 
In  their  gardens  the  princes  of  thought  convened,  and 
held  communion  on  all  the  great  themes  of  science,  lit- 
erature, and  art  which  were  then  agitating  Europe. 


20  SHOET    HISTORY    OF   THE    EEFORMATIOX. 

From  the  Medicean  gatherings  many  young  minds, 
like  Raphael,  derived  an  inspiration  for  great  work, 
which  afterwards  took  form  in  art  and  poetry  and  phi- 
lology. They  constituted  the  literary  exchange  of  the 
century. 

4.  The  Religious  Tendency  of  Humanism  in  Italy  was 
purely  negative.  The  general  spirit  was  not  alone  in- 
different to  Christianity,  but  positively  hostile  to  it. 
The  influence  of  the  Medicean  court,  and  even  of  the 
papacy,  was  exerted  simply  to  revive  the  classics,  and 
so  put  an  end  to  the  theological  discussions  which  had 
absorbed  attention.  There  was  no  disj^osition  to  resort 
to  the  Bible,  but,  rather,  to  make  the  famous  writers  of 
the  pagan  times  a  substitute  for  the  inspired  authors  of 
the  Scriptures.  Scepticism  was  the  craze  of  the  hour. 
Even  learned  hierarchs  considered  it  well  enough  at 
once  to  hold  office  in  the  Church  and  observe  a  suspi- 
cious silence  on  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity.  The 
expression  is  ascribed  to  Leo  X. :  "  What  little  use  the 
fable  of  Christ  is  to  us  and  our  people  has  been  known 
to  all  centuries."  Whether  the  charge  be  true  or  not, 
it  is  a  fact  that  it  expresses  the  theology  both  of  Ital- 
ian Humanism  and  the  papal  court  of  the  15th  century. 
Erasmus,  who  resided  a  time  in  Rome,  wrote  in  lam- 
entation over  the  blasphemous  expressions  which  he 
constantly  heard  from  prominent  ecclesiastics. 

5.  Humanism  elsewhere  in  Europe  was  very  different 
from  that  of  Italy,  so  far  as  sympathy  with  evangeli- 
cal religion  was  concerned.  North  of  the  Alps  the 
taste  for  the  classic  languages  and  masterpieces  spread 
w^ith  great  rapidity,  but  it  was  turned  into  a  theolog- 
ical and  religious  channel,  and  served  to  hasten  the 
Reformation.  The  Scriptures  wei*e  studied  with  all 
that  new  interest  which  came  from  the  revival  of  phil- 


THE    HUMANISM    OF    ITALY.  21 

ological  learning.  Panzer  relates  that  one  hundred 
editions  of  the  Latin  (Vulgate)  Bible  were  printed  be- 
tween the  years  1462  and  1500.  The  first  edition  of 
the  Greek  Testament,  however,  which  was  printed,  was 
not  edited  by  a  sceptical  Humanist,  but  by  Erasmus, 
and  appeared  in  1516.  Hebrew  received  profound  at- 
tention, and  hence  the  Old  Testament  became  a  book 
of  minute  and  laborious  study.  This  new  attention  to 
the  Bible  led  imm.ediately  to  a  comparison  of  its  high 
standard  of  morals  and  doctrine  with  the  present  fallen 
state  of  the  Church  in  both  these  fundamental  depart- 
ments. The  invention  of  the  art  of  printing  was  highly 
favorable  to  the  new  intellectual  departure,  and  Hu- 
manist works  soon  spread  throughout  Western  Eu- 
rope. Heidelberg  and  Erfurt  became  centres  of  Ger- 
man Humanism.  Maternus  Pistorius  of  Erfurt  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  German  poetic  group.  Konrad  Muth 
of  Gotha  led  in  the  same  direction,  and  assailed  the 
prevailing  scholasticism  with  irresistible  satire.  Ru- 
dolf Agricola  of  Heidelberg  was  a  profound  scholar, 
and  turned  his  attention  chiefly  to  the  promotion  of 
Greek  criticism.  He  was  a  versatile  character,  and 
was  well  worthy  of  Guizot's  eulogy:  "A  good  painter, 
a  good  writer,  a  good  poet,  and  a  learned  philologist." 
He  died  in  1485. 

6.  John  Reuchlin  of  Germany,  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam, 
and  Thomas  More  of  England  were  champions  of  the 
new  Humanism.  Reuchlin's  service  lay  in  the  de- 
partment of  Hebrew  studies.  He  issued  a  strong  pro- 
test against  the  prevailing  neglect  of  the  study  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  original  Hebrew.  His  Hebrew 
Grammar  was  a  masterpiece  of  learning,  and  long  re- 
mained the  favorite  text-book  in  that  field  through- 
out Europe.     Erasmus  confined  his  philological  labors 


22  SIIOET    HISTORY    OF    THE    EEFORMATION. 

chiefly  to  the  Greek,  and  was  the  principal  promoter 
of  New  Testament  studies  for  the  first  generation  of 
Protestants  in  every  land.  He  turned  the  Kew  Testa- 
ment, as  one  would  a  pov/erful  piece  of  artillery, 
against  the  whole  fabric  of  the  ignorance,  superstition, 
and  immorality  of  his  times.  His  Greek  edition  of  the 
New  Testament,  enriched  with  notes  and  paraphrases, 
constituted  a  scriptural  arsenal  for  fighting  the  battle 
of  the  Reformation.  Thomas  More  was  the  friend  of 
Erasmus,  and  became,  late  in  life,  an  earnest  literary 
vrorker  for  the  cause  of  reform.  The  chapter  in  his 
''Utopia"  which  is  entitled  "The  Religion  of  the 
Utopians  "  is  a  shrewd  and  correct  picture  of  the  cor- 
ruption of  his  times,  and  of  the  demand  for  a  new 
order  of  morals  and  learning. 


Chapter  III. 

THE    EEFORMATORY    COUNCILS. 

1.  The  Councils  of  Pisa,  Kostnitz,  and  Basel  were  formal 
acknowledgments,  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  of  the  evils  within  its  pale,  and  the  necessity 
of  relief  from  them.  The  14th  century  opened  with  a 
bitter  controversy  between  the  Church  and  the  leading 
civil  rulers.  It  was  the  old  question  of  authority — 
whether  pope  or  king  was  the  supreme  head.  The 
struggle  centred  in  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip 
the  Fair  of  France.  In  a  bull  issued  in  1302,  Boni- 
face condemned  Philip's  declaration  that  the  civil 
ruler  is  independent  of  papal  authority.  Thereupon 
Philip  caused  the  arrest  of  the  pope,  on  the  ground  of 
his  shameless  life.  The  pope  Avas  rescued,  however, 
by  his  Italian  supporters,  and  died  shortly  afterwards. 
His  successor  lived  but  a  short  time,  and,  in  1305,  the 
French  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux  was  chosen  pope,  and 
bore  the  name  of  Clement  V.  He  was  thoroughly 
identified  with  the  French  policy,  and,  in  1309,  re- 
moved the  papal  see  from  Rome  to  Avignon,  in  Franca 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Avignon  papacy,  popu- 
larly called,  by  the  Romanists,  "  The  Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity," from  the  light  in  which  it  was  held,  as  an  ec- 
clesiastical calamity,  and  from  its  continuance  of  nearly 
seventy  years  (1309  to  1377).  The  whole  period  was 
one  of  great  spiritual  decline.  At  no  time  have  the 
morals  of  the  papacy  been  at  a  lower  ebb.     Meanwhile 


24  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

the  German  rulers  came  into  angry  collision  with  the 
popes. 

2.  Ludwig,  of  Bavaria,  was  a  bitter  opponent  of  the 
claims  of  the  papacy.  In  Rome,  and  even  throughout 
Italy,  the  divisions  were  very  violent,  and  the  whole 
papal  structure  was  threatened  with  destruction.  Greg- 
ory XL  put  an  end  to  the  Avignon  papacy  in  1377.  Im- 
mediately after  his  death  the  Romans  elected  an  Italian 
pope,  but  the  French  elected  a  pope  of  their  own,  who 
resided  in  Avignon.  There  were,  therefore,  two  popes, 
one  in  Rome  and  another  in  France,  each  claiming  the 
supreme  authority,  and  each  surrounded  with  his  court 
and  a  college  of  cardinals.  This  papal  schism  lasted 
thirty  years.  Its  effects  were  widespread,  the  entire 
Roman  Catholic  world  being  drawn  into  the  strife. 
The  only  possible  relief  seemed  to  lie  in  a  general 
council.  The  Paris  theologians,  with  Gerson  in  the 
lead,  were  the  principal  agents  in  securing  it.  This 
council  convened  in  Pisa,  in  the  year  1409.  The  rival 
popes  were  summoned  to  attend  it,  in  order  to  have 
their  competing  claims  adjusted.  Each  feared  for  his 
position,  and  both  refused  to  attend.  Another  pope 
was  accordingly  chosen,  Alexander  V.  There  were, 
therefore,  at  this  time,  three  rival  popes,  all  regularly 
elected,  all  claiming  infallibility  as  the  Lord's  anoint- 
ed vicegerents,  and  each  fulminating  maledictions  upon 
his  rivals  and  their  supporters.  The  Council  of  Pisa 
failed  of  its  end,  for  it  was  wrested  from  its  original 
intent — that  of  reforming  the  Church  and  healing  its 
dissensions — into  a  contest  of  parties. 

3.  The  Council  of  Kostnitz,  1414,  was  brought  about 
l)y  a  second  effort  of  the  persistent  and  well-meaning 
Paris  theologians.  The  })apal  incumbent,  John  XXIIL, 
who  had  been  a  Mediterranean  corsair,  was  charged 


THE    REFORMATORY    COUNCILS.  25 

with  murder,  licentiousness,  and  simony.  He  saw  no 
hope  of  support  in  the  council,  and  fled  from  it.  The 
council  removed  him  by  vote,  and  elected  Martin  V., 
who  disappointed  the  hopes  of  his  friends,  and,  by  cun- 
ning, prorogued  the  council  at  its  forty-fifth  session, 
promising  to  convene  it  again.  The  promise  was  nev- 
er even  meant  to  be  kept. 

4.  The  Council  of  Basel,  1431-1443,  was  convened  by 
Martin's  successor,  Eugene  VI.  It  took  the  Kostnitz 
programme  of  reform  as  its  basis  of  operations,  and 
aimed  at  a  thorough  regeneration  of  the  Church,  from 
its  papal  head  to  the  secular  clergy.  The  pope  was 
alarmed  at  the  persistency  and  depth  of  the  reforma- 
tory spirit,  and  declared  the  council  removed,  first  to 
Ferrara  and  then  to  Florence.  But  the  Basel  Council 
would  not  break  up,  even  with  the  disadvantage  of  a 
rival  council  and  the  absent  pope.  The  pope  therefore 
issued  his  ban  against  the  Council,  whereupon  the  lat- 
ter removed  the  pope,  and  elected  a  new  one,  Felix  V., 
in  his  stead.  But  the  disadvantages  were  too  great  for 
the  Basel  delegates  to  resist.  They  lacked  cohesion, 
and  too  many  of  them  w^ere  open  to  overtures  from 
Rome.  One  by  one  its  members  slipped  off,  and  in 
time  it  was  compelled  to  cease  for  lack  of  numbers. 
It  performed,  however,  an  immense  service.  Its  place 
of  session,  just  across  the  Rhine  from  Germany,  made 
it  an  object  of  profound  attention  throughout  the  freer 
Europe  north  of  the  Alps,  while  the  evils  which  the 
Council  labored  in  vain  to  remove  became  more  than 
ever  a  source  of  sorrow  and  of  heroism,  in  dealing  with 
the  universal  spiritual  declension.  All  these  three  coun- 
cils failed  of  their  prime  object,  but  they  revealed  to 
the  world  the  fact  that  no  prospect  for  reform  could 
exist  in  any  new  council.      The  only  way  open  for 


26  SHORT   HISTOEY   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  1 

improvement  was  now  clear — the  independence  of  the  I 

individual  reformer.    The  personal  conscience  was  com-  j 
pelled  to  fight,  with  single  lance,  for  the  revival  of  truth 

and  virtue.     It  was  the  hour  when  the  fate  of  modern  | 

times  depended  on  the  one  man.  | 


Chapter  IV. 

THE  GERMAN  REFORMATION  I  MARTIN  LUTHER,  FROM 
HIS  BIRTH  TO  THE  RETIREMENT  IN  THE  WARTBURG 
CASTLE. 1483-1520. 

1.  Martin  Luther,  the  Leader  of  the  Reform. — All  the 
Teutonic  countries  had  been  getting  ripe  for  the  great 
ecclesiastical  revolt,  and  central  Germany  now  became 
the  theatre  for  the  Reformation.  The  popular  mind 
was  so  fully  ready  that  the  only  great  need  now  was 
a  man  of  sufficient  courage,  ability,  and  singleness  of 
purpose  to  become  the  representative  of  his  generation. 
Martin  Luther  responded  to  the  universal  aspiration 
for  a  leader,  to  guide  into  new  and  safe  paths. 

2.  Early  Life  of  Luther. — Luther  was  born  in  Eis- 
leben.  Saxony,  November  11,  1483,  and  died  in  the 
same  place,  February  18,  1546.  His  father — first  a 
slate-cutter  in  Mohra,  and  then  a  miner  in  Eisleben — 
was  a  man  of  humble  tastes  and  scanty  means.  He 
belonged  to  the  peasant  class.  The  boy  Martin,  in 
later  life,  recalled  the  fact  that  his  mother  used  to 
carry  on  her  back  the  wood  necessary  for  the  comfort 
of  the  humble  home.  Li  this  son  were  combined  the 
characteristics  of  both  the  northern  and  southern  Ger- 
man. There  were  the  calm  judgment,  the  solid  sense, 
and  the  sturdy  valor  of  the  colder  blood  of  the  north. 
But  with  these  he  possessed  a  gentle,  cheerful,  and 
tuneful  nature,  a  sympathetic  and  social  feeling,  which 
stood  him  in  good  stead  in  his  later  struggles.  As  a 
boy,  he  was  fond  of  the  village  sports,  had  an  ardent 


28  SnORT    HISTOEY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

love  for  his  friends,  and  as  keen  an  antipathy  towards 
his  foes,  possessed  a  quaint  and  grotesque  humor  and 
innocent  wit,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  took  pride  in 
his  lowly  ancestry  and  modest  home.  His  nature 
seemed  to  derive  its  very  grandeur  and  ruggedness 
from  the  neighboring  Harz  JMountains,  and  its  depth 
from  the  mines  beneath  his  father's  thatched  cottage. 
When  the  burden  of  his  great  mission  was  upon  him, 
and  he  was  the  trusted  friend  of  princes  and  the  learned, 
he  was  accustomed  to  say:  "I  am  a  peasant's  son;  my 
father,  grandfather,  and  remote  ancestors  were  noth- 
ing but  veritable  peasants." 

3.  The  Home  and  the  School. — But  little  liberty  was 
granted  to  the  boy  of  genius  and  destiny.  His  par- 
ents made  free  use  of  the  rod,  and  thereby  nearly 
spoiled  their  child.  The  least  indiscretion  brought 
severe  castigation.  His  mother  once  punished  him, 
because  of  some  trouble  about  a  nut,  until  the  blood 
flowed.  In  the  years  of  his  strong  manhood,  when 
looking  back  upon  this  harshness,  he  saw  the  mistake 
of  his  parents,  and  said:  *'My  parents'  severity  made 
me  timid;  their  sternness  and  the  strict  life  they  led 
me  made  me  afterwards  go  into  a  monastery  and  be- 
come a  monk.  They  heartily  meant  it  well,  but  they 
did  not  understand  the  art  of  adjusting  their  punish- 
ments." But,  with  all  the  severity  of  the  home,  these 
parents  seemed  to  recognize  the  genius  of  their  son. 
They  determined  that  he  should  have  an  education, 
and  designed  him  for  the  law.  In  1497  he  was  sent  to 
Magdeburg,  in  order  that  he  might  prepare  for  the 
university.  But  the  expense  was  too  great  for  the 
means  of  his  parents,  and  he  Avas  removed  to  Eisenach, 
where  he  could  live  Avith  relatives,  and  attend  school 
at  less  expense.     It  was  then  the  custom  of  the  poorer 


THE  REFORMATION  IN  GERMANY.         29 

Bcholars  in  Thuringia  to  go  about  the  streets,  and  sing 
at  the  doors  of  the  people,  for  alms.  Young  Martin 
needed  such  help,  and  a  wealthy  lady,  Ursula  Cotta, 
was  so  charmed  by  his  singing  that  she  took  him  to 
her  own  home,  where  he  had  the  advantages  of  an  ex- 
cellent teacher. 

4.  At  the  University. — In  1501  he  went  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Erfurt,  one  of  the  centres  of  Humanis- 
tic learning  in  northern  Europe.  He  here  came  in 
contact  with  the  advancing  learning  of  the  times,  and 
was  captivated  by  it.  Neither  mind  nor  heart  had 
rest.  With  great  nervous  power,  he  went  from  one 
science  to  another,  and  mastered  each  with  a  thorough- 
ness and  despatch  which  amazed  the  professors.  The 
department  which  he  made  his  specialty  was  philoso- 
phy.    On  finishing  his  course,  and  taking  his  degree 

~as  master  of  arts,  he  bade  the  world  farewell,  and  in 
1505  entered  the  Augustinian  cloister  as  a  monk.  The 
resolution  seemed  to  be  instantaneous,  but  his  later 
confessions  reveal  the  fact  that  he  had  been  led  grad- 
ually, by  certain  providential  experiences,  such  as  the 
death  of  a  friend  at  his  side  by  lightning,  to  take  this 
step.  He  now  subjected  himself  to  severe  discipline, 
denied  himself  all  comforts,  tortured  his  body,  and 
fasted  and  prayed  to  a  degree  that  almost  proved  fa- 
tal to  his  life.  But  he  kept  at  his  studies,  in  this  re- 
spect differing  from  his  brethren,  who  said:  "If  this 
brother  studies,  he  will  rule  us."  The  words  were  a 
prophecy  which  was  literally  fulfilled. 

5.  Luther  in  Wittenberg. — In  1508  Luther  was  called 
to  Wittenberg  as  professor.  While  in  Erfurt  he  had 
come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  and  had  seen  the 
difference  between  the  simple  Gospel  and  the  life  and 
practice  of  the  Church  of  his  times.     His  mind  was  in 


80  SHOET   HISTORY    OF   THE    EEFOEMATIOX. 

doubt.  He  continued  his  ascetic  life,  and  waited  for 
the  light.  The  University  of  Wittenberg  had  been 
founded  by  Frederic  the  Wise  in  1502,  and,  like  Er- 
furt, was  now  alive  with  the  new  learning  of  the  age. 
Here  Luther  had  a  field,  the  first  in  his  life,  for  his  re- 
markable powers.  He  carried  with  him  the  timidity 
of  the  monk,  but  the  fire  and  magnetism  of  the  master 
mind.  He  was  so  diffident  that  only  the  greatest  per- 
suasion could  induce  him  to  preach.  "You  will  kill 
me,"  he  said  to  Staupitz,  who  had  been  the  cause  of  his 
call  to  Wittenberg  ;  "I  shall  not  go  on  with  it  for  a 
quarter  of  a  year." 

Luther  had  been  in  Wittenberg  two  years  when  he 
started  on  a  journey  to  Rome.  To  one  of  his  thirsting 
mind  and  religious  fervor  such  an  opportunity  was 
hailed  with  inexpressible  delight.  He  had  been  doubt- 
ing the  practices  of  the  Church,  but  no  thought  of 
keen  criticism  had  arisen  in  his  mind.  He  was  still 
the  devoted  servant  of  his  order,  the  Augustines,  and 
a  firm  and  full  believer  in  the  one  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  When  he  caught  his  first  view  of  the  Eternal 
City  he  fell  upon  the  earth,  and,  with  uplifted  hands, 
cried  out:  "I  greet  thee,  Holy  Rome,  thrice  holy,  from 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  which  has  been  shed  in  thee  !" 
The  scenes  which  now  passed  before  his  eyes  had  but 
little  influence  in  strengthening  his  love  for  the  Church. 
He  saw  too  much  ostentation  and  pride  to  satisfy  his 
self-denying  nature.  While  ascending  the  Scala  Santa, 
or  Pilate's  Staircase,  as  a  reverent  and  penitential  i)il- 
grim,  the  words  came  to  him:  "The  just  shall  live  by 
faith."  He  descended  the  steps,  left  Rome,  and  took 
with  him  an  abhorrence  of  the  superstition  and  immo- 
rality of  the  Church  at  its  fountain-head  which  never 
left  him. 


THE    REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  31 

6.  The  Ninety-live  Theses. — Luther  was  still  a  devoted 
monk,  but  had  felt  the  power  of  a  new  life.  He  did  not 
dream  of  separation  from  the  Church.  He  continued 
his  lectures  on  the  Biblical  books,  and  fascinated  his 
hearers  by  the  boldness  and  novelty  of  his  views.  His 
life  now  moved  on  without  excitement  or  serious  change 
for  seven  years.  All  the  while  he  was  growing  in  the 
confidence  of  the  students  and  in  fame  abroad.  His 
lectures  were  attractive  beyond  those  of  any  one  else, 
while  his  sermons,  differing,  by  their  plain  speech  and 
direct  presentation  of  the  truth,  from  the  current 
preaching,  were  heard  with  an  intensity  of  interest 
new  in  Wittenberg,  or  any  other  part  of  Germany, 
since  the  Mystics.  During  this  quiet  interval  a  new 
indulgence  was  published  in  Germany,  and  the  tickets 
of  pardon  were  sold  in  the  public  places  of  the  land. 
Between  1500  and  1517  no  less  than  five  indulgences 
extraordinary  had  been  published,  and  put  up  for  sale 
to  any  buyer.  They  were  wonderfully  successful. 
The  money  flowed  in  from  every  quarter.  The  cause 
of  the  indulgences  was  alleged  to  be  for  defence 
against  the  Turks,  but  it  was  a  singular  fact  that  it 
had  to  go  by  the  very  circuitous  way  of  Rome  and  the 
papal  treasure-box.  The  bishops  cried  out,  half  in  joy 
and  half  in  complaint,  against  the  weight  of  the  silver: 
"Hundredweights  of  German  coin  fly  light  as  feath- 
ers over  the  Alps,  and  no  bearer  of  the  heaviest  bur- 
dens, not  even  Atlas  himself,  can  drag  such  heaps  of 
money." 

The  sale  of  the  indulgences  aroused  Luther's  nature 
to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement.  He  was  now  ready  for 
his  mission.  He  went  over  the  whole  case  against 
Rome,  as  he  saw  it,  and  arraigned  the  Church  in  a  bill 
of  charges  which  he  called  his  Ninety -five  Theses. 


32  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

They  were  directed  principally  against  the  sale  of  in- 
dulgences, but  they  included  the  whole  burden  of  Lu- 
ther's soul.  He  insisted  that  the  Church  taught  the 
truth,  but  that  there  were  excrescences  which  must  be 
removed.  On  October  31,1517,  he  nailed  his  Theses 
to  the  door  of  the  Schlosskirche  of  Wittenberg.  Now 
began  the  storm  which  lasted  until  the  day  of  his 
death.  The  Theses  were  soon  heard  from  in  Rome, 
where  the  pope  wrote  of  him  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
as  that  notorious  "son  of  wickedness."  He  was  or- 
dered to  recant,  but  replied,  "I  cannot  recall."  He 
was  ordered  to  Rome,  but  only  wrote  a  respectful  let- 
ter in  reply  to  the  command.  He  was  summoned  to  a 
disputation  in  Leipzig,  in  1519,  with  Eck,  where  he  at- 
tacked the  doctrines  of  the  primacy  of  the  pope,  indul- 
gences, and  purgatory.  The  Humanist  Moscellanus 
thus  described  the  young  monk  on  this  first  great  ap- 
pearance before  the  world:  "  He  was  of  medium  height. 
His  face  and  whole  body  were  as  thin  as  a  skeleton, 
caused  by  long  study  and  much  care.  His  voice  was 
clear.  His  address  bore  every  mark  of  great  learning 
and  acquaintance  with  the  Bible.  His  bearing  was 
friendly  and  attractive.  He  was  full  of  vitality,  and 
calm  and  joyous  amid  the  threats  of  his  enemies,  as 
one  would  be  who  undertakes  great  things  with  God's 
help.  In  controversy  he  was  defiant  and  incisive,  as  a 
theologian  ought  to  be." 

7.  The  Diet  at  Worms.  Luther  left  Leipzig  with  a 
deeper  determination  than  ever  to  continue  his  work. 
He  still  had  no  thought  of  leaving  the  Church.  He 
would  be  an  obedient  son  and  servant,  and  thought 
only  of  ever  remaining  in  fellowship  with  the  received 
faith.  But  he  was  carried  on  by  the  force  of  his 
convictions,  and  by  some  providential  occurrences,  in 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY.  33 

which,  indeed,  he  seemed  to  have  little  part.  He  now 
struck  the  most  vital  blow  of  all.  He  attacked  Rome 
in  a  new  department.  He  wrote  an  ''Address  to  the 
Nobles  of  the  German  People,"  in  which  he  declared 
that  the  time  had  come  when  Germany  ought  to  cast 
off  allegiance  to  Rome,  to  start  out  on  an  independent 
religious  and  national  life,  and  take  care  of  its  own 
interests.  This  was  rebellion,  and  shortly  afterwards 
brought  its  natural  punishment  from  Rome — excom- 
munication. Luther  said  :  "  I  would  regard  the  pojoe 
as  pope,  but  they  want  me  to  regard  him  as  God."  He 
posted  a  notice  on  the  church  door,  inviting  the  peo- 
ple to  go  out  with  him,  in  solemn  procession,  through 
the  Elster  gate,  and,  in  presence  of  the  citizens,  pro- 
fessors, and  students,  publicly  burn  the  papal  bull. 
This  notice  was  observed,  and,  in  presence  of  the  mul- 
titude, Luther  burned  the  bull  on  December  10,  1520. 
But  Rome  was  even  worse  off  without  him  than  with 
him. 

8.  Charles  V.  had  been  elected  Emperor  of  Germany 
on  June  28,  1519,  and  it  was  now  a  serious  question 
what  position  he  would  take  as  to  the  Reform.  He 
was  a  Hapsburg,  and  therefore  a  rigid  Roman  Catho- 
lic, but  he  was  also  diplomatic,  and  was  determined  to 
do  nothing  that  would  endanger  his  political  strength. 
He  turned  the  matter  over  carefully  in  his  mind,  and, 
as  at  the  Diet  at  Worms,  his  election  contract  was  to 
be  signed,  and  such  additional  business  transacted  as 
related  to  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  he  resolved,  be- 
fore the  Council  met,  that  he  would  give  Luther  a 
hearing,  and  condemn  his  doctrines.  Luther  was  sum- 
moned to  Worms,  and  promised  a  safe  conduct.  Be- 
fore starting  he  wrote  to  Spalatin  :  "  If  his  majesty 
calls  me  to   account,  so   that  I  am   ruined,  and  am 

3 


34  SHORT  HISTORY  of  the  reformation. 

looked  upon,  on  account  of  my  answer,  as  an  enemy 
to  the  empire,  still  I  am  ready  to  come.  For  I  have 
no  intention  of  tieeing,  nor  of  leaving  the  "Word  in 
danger,  but  I  mean  to  confess  it  unto  death,  so  far  as 
Christ's  grace  sustains  me.  But  I  am  certain  that  the 
bloodhounds  will  not  rest  until  they  have  put  me  to 
death."  Ilis  friends  reminded  him  of  Huss's  death  at 
the  Council  of  Constance,  but  their  remonstrance  had 
no  influence.  He  would  go  to  "Worms  though  "the 
devils  were  as  many  as  tiles  on  the  house-tops."  Every 
argument  was  used  ;  threats  w^ere  multiplied  ;  but  all 
to  no  avail.  "When  he  had  finished  his  defence,  he 
said  :  "  Here  I  stand  ;  I  cannot  do  otherwise.  God 
help  me  !  Amen."  Carlyle  describes  the  historical 
significance  of  this  occasion,  and  the  importance  of 
Luther's  firm  attitude,  in  the  following  words  :  "  It 
was  the  greatest  moment  in  the  modern  history  of 
men.  English  Puritanism,  England  and  its  j^arlia- 
ments,  Americas  and  vast  work  these  two  centuries  ; 
French  Revolution,  Europe  and  its  work  everywhere 
at  present :  the  germ  of  it  all  lay  there  ;  had  Luther 
in  that  moment  done  otherwise,  it  had  all  been  other- 
wise !"  The  decree  of  the  Diet  at  Worms  against  Lu- 
ther w^as  as  follows  :  "  Thus  this  individual,  not  a  man, 
but  one  like  the  devil  in  human  form,  under  a  monk's 
cowl,  has  gathered  into  one  noxious  mass  a  number  of 
heretics  who  have  been  long  concealed,  and  hold  most 
damnable  heresies;  and  he  has  even  devised  some 
fresh  ones,  under  pretence  of  preaching  faith,  which 
he  has  industriously  made  every  one  believe,  in  order 
that  he  may  destroy  the  true  faith,  and,  under  the 
name  and  guise  of  evangelical  doctrine,  put  an  end  to 
all  evangelical  peace,  and  love,  and  all  good  order." 
The  sentence  of  ban  and  double  ban  was  pronounced 


THE    KEFOEMATION   IN    GERMANY. 


35 


on  liim  and  e\eiy 
friend  and  adhe- 
rent to  his  here- 
sy, and,  after  a 
certain  date.  May 
14th,  all  persons 
were  cautioned 
against  harboring 
or  protecting  him, 
and  he  was  or- 
dered to  be  de- 
livered up  to  the 
officers,  wherever 
found. 

9.  In  the  Wartburg.  When  Luther  was  returning 
from  Worms,  and  before  the  publication  of  the  ban 
against  him,  some  knights,  at  the  instance  of  Fred- 
eric the  Wise,  took  him  to  the  Wartburg  Castle,  on 
the  heights  above  Eisenach,  lest  he  might  be  captured 


WAliTBUllG   CASTLE. 


3G  SHORT   HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

by  his  enemies,  and  possibly  suffer  death.  He  here 
lived  as  "  Junker  Georg "  (Squire  George),  a  sobri- 
quet given  him  by  the  jovial  knights.  He  used  his 
pen  vigorously  during  his  eight  months  ^'  in  Patmos," 
as  he  called  his  sojourn.  No  day  was  without  its  line. 
While  here  he  translated  the  New  Testament  entire, 
and  parts  of  the  Old. 


Chapter  Y. 

luther :  further  labors  and  personal  character. 

—1520-1546. 

1.  The  Reformation  in  Danger  from  its  Friends.  Lu- 
ther was  now  compelled  to  pay  the  penalty  of  every 
great  reformer.  He  had  to  shield  his  work  from  the 
errors  of  his  friends.  Carlstadt,  a  firm  adherent  of 
the  Protestant  cause,  began  to  think  that  Luther  did 
not  o-o  far  enouirh.  He  declared  that  Romanism  still  be- 
longed  to  the  Reformation,  and,  at  the  head  of  a  fanat- 
ical band,  the  Zwickau  Prophets,  he  made  a  fierce  fight 
against  Luther.  He  wrote  to  them  from  his  "  Patmos," 
in  December,  1521,  as  follows:  "This  business  has 
been  undertaken  in  a  harum-scarum  fashion,  with  great 
rashness  and  violence.  I  do  not  like  it  at  all ;  and,  that 
you  may  know  it,  when  it  comes  to  the  point,  I  will  not 
stand  by  you  in  this  business.  You  have  set  about  it 
without  me,  and  so  you  may  see  how  you  can  get  out  of  it 
without  me.  Believe  me,  I  know  the  devil  well  enough. 
It  is  he  alone  who  has  set  out  to  bring  disgrace  on  the 
Word."  The  fanatics  would  tear  down  every  reminder 
of  Romanism — the  ornamentation,  pictures,  and  every- 
thing else  but  the  bare  walls  of  the  churches.  They 
would  make  such  a  thorough  work  with  Rome  that  not 
a  trace  would  be  left  of  the  old  order.  They  would 
destroy  every  Avork  of  Christian  art,  in  sculpture  or  on 
canvas,  wherever  found.  They  turned  prophets,  and 
saw  visions.     Luther,  from  his  watch-tower,  saw  the 


38  SHORT    IIISTOKY    OF   THE    EEFOEMATION: 

danger  that  threatened  the  whole  Protestant  cause, 
and  vras  ill  at  ease.  He  could  stay  no  longer  in  the 
Wartburg.  Duke  George  was  ready  to  arrest  him, 
wherever  he  could  be  found  at  large,  but  Luther  was 
willing  to  take  the  risk.  His  true  friend,  the  Elector, 
cautioned  him  of  his  danger  from  Duke  George,  but 
the  Reformer  wrote  back  :  "  One  thing  I  can  say  for 
myself,  if  things  were  at  Leipzig  as  they  are  at  Wit- 
tenberg I  would  still  go  there,  even  if  it  rained  Duke 
Georges  for  nine  days,  and  every  one  of  them  were 
nine  times  as  fierce  as  he."  He  plainly  told  the  anx- 
ious Elector  that  he  did  not  want  his  protection,  that 
there  was  no  real  protection  in  a  ruler  of  such  faith, 
and  that  he  would  go  under  God's  protection  to  Wit- 
tenberg.    He  kept  his  promise. 

On  March  3, 1522,  he  left  the  Wartburg,  and,  proceed- 
ing without  a  guard,  reached  Wittenberg  in  safety. 
The  condition  of  things  was  alarming.  The  Zwickau 
Prophets  had  frightened  the  Reform.ers.  Melanchthon 
was  too  weak  in  nerve  to  withstand  their  boldness. 
He  could  not  resist  them,  and  trembled  for  the  whole 
Protestant  fabric.  The  Proj^hets  declared  that  they 
had  received  special  revelations  from  God  to  go  even 
further  than  religious  reform,  to  resist  all  civil  author- 
ity, and  set  up  a  temporal  kingdom.  When  Luther 
appeared  in  Wittenberg  it  brought  confidence  to  his 
friends,  and  to  Protestants.  He  was  wise  in  every 
movement,  and  did  not  even  mention  the  names  of  the 
fanatics.  For  a  Aveek  he  publicly  preached  against 
them,  but  with  consummate  tact,  and,  as  a  result,  they 
left  the  city  a  disorganized  mass. 

2.  The  Peasants'  War.  The  German  peasantry  had 
long  been  oi)i)ressed  by  the  princes,  and  had  several 
times  risen  in  revolt.     Li  the  years  1470,  1491,  1498, 


LUTHER:  LABORS  AND  CHARACTER.         39 

and  1503  they  had  rebelled  against  their  rulers,  but 
were  overcome,  and  yet  were  kept  down  only  by  vio- 
lent means.  The  peasantry  saw,  in  the  present  relig- 
ious convulsion,  another  opportunity  for  revolt.  A 
league  was  formed  in  1514  ;  by  1524  the  insurrec- 
tion broke  out  publicly  ;  and  by  the  spring  of  1525  it 
was  general.  The  peasants  were  largely  in  the  Prot- 
estant interest.  They  pleaded  the  Bible  as  their  justi- 
fication in  demanding  liberty  of  conscience  and  free- 
dom from  civil  oppression.  Luther  was  now  put  upon 
trial  in  a  new  direction.  He  studied  the  matter  closely, 
and  then  took  the  side  of  law  and  order,  but,  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  princes,  told  them  of  the  wrong  of  oppres- 
sion, and  cautioned  moderation  in  dealing  with  the  fa- 
natics. The  peasants  were  fully  conquered,  and  their 
leader,  Miinzer,  was  beheaded. 

3.  Luther's  Literary  Labors.  Luther  now  addressed 
himself  more  than  ever  to  severe  literary  labors.  He 
saw  that  his  work  needed  consolidation.  He  must  in- 
struct the  people,  who  were  looking  to  him  for  spir- 
itual guidance.  The  Miinster  fanaticism  was  proof  of 
the  great  need  of  Protestantism  for  the  most  judi- 
cious and  safe  instruction.  So,  by  pen  and  speech,  he 
wrought  with  prodigious  vigor.  Through  the  kind- 
ness of  friends,  his  sermons  and  lectures  were  pub- 
lished immediately  after  delivery.  They  were  robust 
in  style,  and  consisted  of  strong  and  often  homely 
speech.  The  people  read  each  word  with  the  gladness 
that  came  from  an  immediate  understanding.  His 
translation  of  the  Bible,  the  strongest  and  most  ner- 
vous and  comprehensible  ever  executed,  went  all  over 
the  land.  His  principle  in  translation  was  contained 
in  his  own  words  :  "  For  translating  the  Bible,  we  must 
have    a   pious,  true,  industrious,  reverent   Christian, 


40  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

learned,  experienced,  and  disciplined  heart.  AVe  must 
ask  the  mother  in  the  house,  the  children  in  the  alley, 
the  common  man  in  the  market-place,  how  to  speak 
German,  and  put  the  language  they  speak  in  his  own 
jaws." 

As  a  specimen  of  Luther's  care  that  he  might  trans- 
late the  Bible  into  a  language  which  the  people  might 
understand,  he  had  a  butcher  ''kill  some  sheep  for 
him,"  and  tell  him  the  names  of  every  part,  in  order 
that  he  might  translate  accurately  those  parts  of  Le- 
viticus relatinsj  to  the  Jewish  sacrifices.  He  wrote  his 
friend  Spalatin  a  request  to  give  him  the  names  and 
minute  descriptions  of  all  the  precious  stones  men- 
tioned in  Revelations  xxi.,  as  constituting  the  walls 
of  the  celestial  city. 

4.  Hymns  and  Other  Works.  Luther's  works  multi- 
plied rapidly.  About  one  hundred  and  twenty  sepa- 
rate writings  appeared  from  his  pen.  His  Smaller 
and  Larger  Catechisms  became  a  household  possession 
throughout  German  Protestantism.  His  thirty  hymns 
were  sung  in  palace  and  hut  with  equal  joy.  The  fa- 
vorites were,  his  martial  hymn, 

"A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God, 
A  bulwark  never  failing;" 

his  Christmas  Hymn, 

"  From  heaven  above  to  earth  I  come, 
To  bear  good  news  to  every  home ;" 

his  Children's  Hymn, 

"  Sleep  well,  my  dear ;" 

and  the  Hymn  of  Providence, 

**  Flung  to  the  heedless  winds, 
Or  on  the  waters  cast." 


LUTHER  :    LABOES    AND    CHARACTER.  41 

Luther's  writings  were  born  of  the  occasion.  He  saw 
deeply,  and  felt  intensely.  He  held  himself  ready  to 
sing,  or  speak,  or  write,  as  he  perceived  a  need  and 
felt  an  inspiration.  He  thought  in  images,  and  all  his 
w^orks  abound  in  striking  pictures.  To  him  the  devil 
was  no  myth,  but  a  visible  creature,  whom  his  own 
eyes  had  seen  all  too  frequently.  Hence  he  frequently 
addressed  him  as  Mr.,  or  Madam,  Devil.  Luther's  com- 
mentaries were  practical  expositions,  little  space  being 
given  to  philological  discussions.  It  was  his  habit  to 
present  the  argument  of  a  book  in  a  full  introduction, 
and  in  language  that  the  uneducated  could  understand. 
His  interpretations  were  crisp  and  strong  declarations 
of  the  author's  meaning.  He  gave  conclusions,  and 
but  little  of  the  process  by  which  he  reached  them. 

5.  Luther's  Personal  Characteristics  were  of  a  very 
striking  character.  He  w^as  of  ardent  and  impulsive 
nature,  and  called  things  by  the  first  name  that  came 
to  him.  He  was  born  for  war,  and  yet  was  always 
sighing  for  peace.  His  element  was  the  smoke  and 
flame  and  violence  of  the  hot  battle-field.  Yet,  strange- 
ly enough,  he  thought  himself  very  mild  in  language. 
When  a  friend  once  expostulated  with  him  on  the 
harshness  of  his  language  against  the  papacy,  he  re- 
plied, in  all  seriousness,  "On  the  contrary,  I  complain 
that,  alas,  I  am  too  mild.  I  wish  that  I  could  breathe 
out  lightning,  and  that  every  word  were  a  thunder- 
bolt!" A  hair-splitting  theologian  once  quoted  to  him 
St.  Augustine's  reply  to  the  question,  "  Where  God  was 
before  heaven  was  created  ?"  that  he  was  in  himself  ; 
and  then  asked  the  Reformer  what  his  answer  would 
be.  Luther  replied,  "He  was  building  hell  for  such 
idle,  presumptuous,  frivolous,  and  inquisitive  spirits 
as  you!"     His  opinions  were  very  decided  concerning 


42  SIIOKT    HISTORY    OF    THE    KEFOEMATION.  -j 

some  physicians:    "Alack  for  him  that  depends  on  ■ 

physic!     When  I  was  sick  at  Smalcald,  the  doctors  i 

made  me  take  as  much  medicine  as  though  I  had  been 

a  great  bull.    'Tis  these  wretches  that  people  the  grave-  \ 

yards  ;  though  able,  cautious,  and  experienced  physi-  ■ 

cians  are  the  gift  of  God,  those  without  fear  of  God  ; 

are  mere  homicides.    I  consider  that  exercise  and  change  ■ 

of  air  do  more  good  than  all  their  purgings  and  bleed-  j 

ings.     AVhen  I  feel  indisposed,  I  generally  manage  to  j 

get  around  by  a  strict  diet,  going  to  bed  early,  and  ; 

keeping  my  mind  at  rest."  ; 

6.  Luther's  Faith.     In  faith,  Martin  Luther  was  as  j 

fervent  as  any  crusader  in  the  heat  of  conflict.     The  | 

time  of  prayer  was  his  supreme  hour.     Every  prayer  • 

was  an  imj^ortunity.     He  would  not  think  of  silence, 

much  less  refusal.     He  argued  with  God,  and  showed  • 

him  how  unlike  himself  it  would  be  not  to  grant  his  | 

petitions.     He  caught  hold  of  the  very  robe  of  the  | 

Master,  and  would  not  let  it  go.     Or,  rather,  he  vio-  ; 

lently  grasped  the  divine  arm  with  both  hands,  and  ; 

held  it  until  his  prayer  was  answered.    He  had  the  habit  : 

of  recording  his  wants  in  the  form  of  a  catalogue,  and  i 

taking  them  to  God  in  order,  as  petitions  which  God  • 

could  hardly  be  true  to  his  own  honor  if  he  failed  to  j 

answer.      He   was   overheard   to   offer  the  following  ; 

prayer  just  before  his  appearance  in  the  presence  of  i 

the  Council  at  Worms:  "Almighty,  Everlasting  God,  j 

how  terrible  this  world  is !     How  it  would  open  its 

jaws  to  devour  me.     And  how  weak  is  my  trust  in  j 

thee  !     O  thou  my  God,  help  me  against  all  the  wis-  ■ 

dom  of  this  world.     Do  thou  the  work;  it  is  thine,  not  ; 

mine.     I  have  notliino:  to  brincj  me  here.     I  have  no  I 

.  .  i 

controversy  to  maintain — not  I — with  the  great  ones  | 

of  the  earth.     I,  too,  would  fain  that  my  days  should  ; 


luthee:  labors  and  chaeactek.  43 

glide  along,  happy  and  calm.  But  the  cause  is  thine. 
It  is  righteous  ;  it  is  eternal.  O  Lord,  help  me  !  Thou 
that  art  faithful,  thou  that  art  unchangeable  !  It  is  not 
in  any  man  I  trust.  O  God,  my  God,  dost  thou  not 
hear  me  ?  Art  thou  dead  ?  No,  thou  art  hiding  thy- 
self. O  Lord  my  God,  where  art  thou  ?  Come,  come  ! 
Thou  hast  chosen  me  for  this  work.  I  know  it.  O, 
then,  arise  and  work!  Be  thou  on  my  side,  for  the 
sake  of  thy  beloved  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  my  de- 
fence, my  shield,  and  my  fortress.  I  am  ready — ready 
to  forsake  life  for  thy  truth — patient  as  a  lamb.  Though 
the  world  should  be  full  of  demons  ;  though  my  body 
should  be  stretched  on  the  rack,  cut  into  pieces,  con- 
sumed to  ashes,  the  soul  is  thine.  For  this  I  have  the 
assurance  of  thy  Word.  Amen.  O  God,  help  thou 
me.  Amen.  .  .  .  (and  then,  as  if  in  soliloquy)  Amen, 
Amen — that  means.  Yes,  Yes,  this  shall  be  done!" 

7.  Organization  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Germany. 
When  Luther  saw  the  great  need  of  sustaining  and 
building  up  of  the  peoj)le  Avho  were  following  his  lead- 
ership, he  devised  wise  plans  for  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion. In  1527  he  and  Melanchthon,  at  the  instance  of 
the  Elector  John,  drew  up  a  plan  of  general  visitation. 
An  order  of  doctrine  and  service  was  established.  Pa- 
rochial schools  were  instituted,  catechetical  service  was 
enjoined,  and  full  arrangements  made  for  a  complete 
ecclesiastical  life.  At  the  Diet  of  Augsburg  (1530) 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  drawn  up  by  Melanchthon, 
was  adopted  for  the  Protestants  of  Germany.  In  the 
Convention  at  Smalcald  the  Protestants  formed  a  com- 
pact, which  Avas  the  basis  of  their  subsequent  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  unity.  The  theological  standard  of  the 
Protestants  was  the  "Loci  Theologici"  of  Melanch- 
thon.    Luther  never  undertook  a  systematic  treatment 


44  SIIOKT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

of  doctrine,  but  committed  this  work  to  his  nearest 
friend,  Melanchthon,  who  was  a  complement  to  him  in 
many  other  respects. 

8.  Luther's  Private  Life  was  of  a  piece  with  his  pub- 
lic career.  His  labors  before  the  world  drew  all  their 
inspiration  from  his  pure  and  simple  home-life.  In 
1525  he  married  Catharine  von  Bora,  a  nun  of  the 
cloister  of  Nimj^tchen,  and  henceforth  his  home  be- 
came the  centre  of  his  labors  and  the  rallying-place  of 
friends.  His  children  Avere  his  loving  companions.  In 
the  intervals  of  his  engrossing  labors  he  would  sing, 
and,  getting  new  inspiration,  Avould  again  take  up  his 
pen.  Walther,  the  electoral  chapel-master,  who  was 
deputed  to  assist  Luther  in  the  arrangement  of  music 
for  public  worship,  thus  wrote  of  him  :  ''  Many  a  pre- 
cious hour  did  he  sing.  I  have  often  seen  him,  the 
dear  man,  become  so  happy  and  transported  in  spirit 
that  he  could  not  get  enough  of  it.  He  knew  how  to 
say  wondrous  things  of  music."  Luther  was  especially 
fond  of  having  the  students  visit  him,  and  sit  at  his 
table.  He  was  always  thinking  of  others,  and  how  he 
might  instruct  and  comfort.  His  engrossing  labors 
wore  heavily  upon  him.  His  early  ascetic  life  left  an 
impaired  constitution,  Avhich  he  was  never  able  fully 
to  restore.  He  went  on  a  journey  to  assist  in  recon- 
ciling a  difficulty  between  the  Mansfeld  counts,  and 
died  from  home,  but  in  the  place  where  he  was  born. 
He  breathed  his  last,  after  thanking  God  for  the  reve- 
lation of  his  Son,  and  for  having  given  him  the  privi- 
lege of  testifying  for  him  before  the  world  and  the 
poj^e. 


Chapter  VI. 

MELANCIITHON    AND    OTHER    GERMAN    REFORMERS. 

1.  Philip  Melanchthon.— The  friends  and  helpers  of 
Luther  came  from  every  class.  Of  all  these,  Melanch- 
thon was  destined  to  be  of  most  service,  not  only  as  an 
immediate  co-laborer  with  Luther,  but  as  a  promoter 
of  the  general  cause  of  Protestantism.  He  was  born 
in  Bretten,  South  Germany,  in  1498,  and  was  educated 
at  Pforzheim,  Heidelberg,  and  Tubingen.  When  only 
seventeen  years  of  age  he  became  a  professor  in  the 
Tubingen  University,  and  began  to  attract  attention 
by  his  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  classic  writers. 
He  edited  Terence  and  other  authors,  and  threw  a  new 
light  upon  both  Greek  and  Roman  writers.  His  fame 
spread  abroad  into  other  countries.  Erasmus  wrote  of 
him  the  following:  "  What  hopes  may  we  not  conceive 
of  Philip  Melanchthon,  though  as  yet  very  young,  al- 
most a  boy  [he  was  only  eighteen],  but  equally  to  be 
admired  for  his  proficiency  in  both  languages  !  What 
quickness  of  invention  !  What  purity  of  diction  ! 
What  vastness  of  memory!  What  variety  of  reading! 
What  modesty  and  gracefulness  of  behavior  !  And 
what  a  princely  mind!"  To  Q^^colampadius  the  same 
man,  Erasmus,  wrote:  "  Of  Melanchthon  I  have  already 
the  highest  opinion,  and  cherish  the  most  magnificent 
hopes;  so  much  so  that  I  am  persuaded  Christ  designs 
this  youth  to  excel  us  all.  He  will  totally  eclipse 
Erasmus.'''^    He  was  called  to  Wittenberg  as  professor 


46  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

in  1518,  and  the  same  week  began  to  lecture.  He  pro- 
duced a  profound  impression  immediately.  Luther 
heard  him,  and  Y\'as  charmed  by  him.  A  friendship 
immediately  sprang  up  between  them,  which  was  never 
broken  until  death  terminated  the  union  of  twenty- 
eight  years.  The  annals  of  literature  and  theology  do 
not  furnish  a  more  beautiful  illustration  of  the  manner 
in  which  a  great  work  can  be  performed  by  the  com- 
bined action  of  two  men  than  we  find  in  the  case  of 
Luther  and  Melanchthon.  There  was  no  resemblance 
between  them  in  quality  of  mind  or  temperament. 
The  one  thing  which  they  had  in  common  was  the 
great  cause  of  reform,  and  to  that  all  other  interests 
and  gifts  were  made  subordinate. 

2.  The  Labors  of  Melanchthon  were  directed  at  once 
to  the  improvement  of  the  methods  of  study  in  the 
university.  His  students  increased  rapidly,  and  soon 
rose  to  about  twenty-five  hundred.  He  insisted  that 
the  old  scholastic  philosophy  was  ridiculous,  and  con- 
sisted of  terms,  rather  than  ideas.  He  urged  the  stu- 
dents to  the  fountain-heads  of  truth,  and  placed  before 
them  the  Bible  as  the  only  source  of  real  knowledge. 
He  then  entered  into  the  strife  concerning  indulgences, 
Luther  going  before  him,  and  Melanchthon  following 
closely  with  his  philological  lore,  his  fine  logic,  and  his 
marvellous  unfoldings  of  scriptural  truth.  The  life  of 
Melanchthon  was  now  so  thoroughly  identified  with 
that  of  Luther  that  it  is  difiicult  to  separate  the  two. 
They  lived  in  the  same  town,Wittenberg.  They  were 
in  constant  consultation,  each  doing  what  he  was  most 
able  to  do,  and  both  working  Avith  unwearied  zeal  for 
the  triumph  of  the  cause  to  which  they  gave  their  life. 
During  Luther's  stay  in  the  Wartburg,  Melanchthon 
was  sorely  grieved.    He  needed  Luther's  martial  spirit, 


MELANCHTHON    AND    OTHER    GERMAN    REFORMERS.    47 

his  strong  will,  his  quick  intuitions,  as  to  the  best  meas- 
ures to  win  new  victories.  Hence  he  wrote  such  words 
as  these:  "  I  feel  the  need  I  have  of  good  advice.  Our 
Elijah  is  confined  at  a  distance  from  us,  though  we  are 
expecting  and  anticipating  his  return.  What  shall  I 
say  more?  His  absence  absolutely  torments  me."  On 
the  other  hand,  Luther  felt  the  need  of  Melanchthon's 
calm  spirit,  and,  among  many  other  words  of  the  same 
character, he  wrote  him  from  the  Wartburg:  "For  the 
glory  of  the  Word  of  God  and  the  mutual  consolation 
of  myself  and  others,  I  would  rather  be  consumed  in  a 
blazing  fire  than  remain  here  half  alive  and  utterly 
useless.  If  I  perish,  the  prophet  of  Christ  will  not 
perish,  and  you,  I  hope,  like  another  Elisha,  will  suc- 
ceed Elijah."  Luther,  however,  was  sometimes  out  of 
patience  with  Melanchthon's  great  infirmity,  despond- 
ency, afid  wrote  him  the  following,  in  reply  to  Me- 
lanchthon's gloomy  picture  of  the  Protestant  outlook: 
"Let  those  who  please  talk  against  us.  Bat  why  are 
we  to  be  alvv^ays  looking  on  the  dark  side  of  things  ? 
Why  not  indulge  hopes  of  better  times  ?"  He  com- 
pared Paul's  appearance  with  Melanchthon's  in  the  fol- 
lowing words:  "Paul  must  have  been  an  insignificant- 
looking  person,  with  no  presence  ;  a  poor,  dry,  little 
man,  like  Master  Philip."  While  Luther  was  still  in 
the  Wartburg  he,  nevertheless,  longed  for  the  socie- 
ty of  his  "poor,  dry,  little  man,"  more  than  for  all 
the  robust  men  of  the  Fatherland.  So,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Wittenberg,  and  put  the  fanatics  to  shame 
and  flight,  he  wrote  with  great  joy  to  a  relative:  "I 
am  in  Amsdorff's  house,  with  my  beloved  friend,  Phil- 
ip Melanchthon." 

Melanchthon's  regularity  in  work  was  a  marvel.    He 
was  seldom  known  to  miss  a  lecture  from  any  cause. 


48  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

On  the  day,  in  1520,  when  he  was  married  to  Catharine 
Crappin,  the  burgomaster's  daughter,  he  departed  for 
once  from  his  inflexible,  punctuality,  and  posted  on  the 
roster  the  following  release  of  his  students  from  hear- 
ing him  on  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans: 

"  A  studiis  liodie  facit  ocia  grata  Philippus 

Nee  nobis  Pauli  dogmata  sacra  leget." 
"  Rest  from  your  studies,  Philip  says  you  may ; 

We'll  read  no  lectures  on  St.  Paul  to-day." 

Year  after  year  passed  by,  and  Melanchthon  was  al- 
ways at  his  post,  lecturing  to  the  many  students  who 
had  come  from  different  countries  to  hear  him.  If,  in 
the  interests  of  the  good  cause  of  reform,  he  was  absent 
for  a  day  or  two,  he  was  always  at  his  post  with  re- 
newed vigor.  His  lecture-room  was  his  throne,  lie 
was  devoted  to  theological  students,  and  made  them 
his  trusted  friends.  In  his  last  illness  he  thought  of 
them,  and  wished,  when  too  weak,  to  be  dressed,  and 
deliver  a  lecture  to  them.  He  died  in  1560.  A  short 
time  before  his  death  he  wrote  his  reasons  why  it  is 
better  for  the  Christian  to  die  than  to  live,  the  column 
on  the  right  containing  the  blessings  gained  by  djing, 
and  those  on  the  left  the  evils  avoided: 


Evils  Removed. 

You  leave  your  sins. 

You  are  delivered  from  contro- 
versy and  the  rage  of  theolo- 
gians." 


Advantages  Gained. 

You  come  to  the  light. 

You  will  see  God. 

You  will  contemplate  the  son  of 
God. 

You  will  understand  those  won- 
derful mysteries  which  you 
cannot  comprehend  in  this 
life  :  namely,  why  we  are  made 
as  we  are,  and  the  union  of  the 
two  natures  in  Christ," 

No  man  appreciated  Melanchthon's  character  and 


MELANCHTHON  AND  OTHER  GERMAN  REFORMERS.  49 

work  more  highly  than  Luther.  Of  his  "  Theological 
Commonplaces"  {Loci  Tlieologici),  Luther  said:  "  For 
theological  study  it  is  the  best  book,  next  to  the  Bible. 
Melanchthon  has  no  ground  for  fear."  Of  Melanch- 
thon's  books,  as  a  whole,  he  said:  "I  love  his  books 
better  than  my  own.  He  ploughs  and  plants  and 
sows  and  waters  with  joy,  while  I  am  only  a  coarse 
forester,  digging  up  the  roots  and  tearing  out  the 
thorns." 

3.  Other  Friends  and  Helpers  of  Reform.— The  friend- 
ship between  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  as  a  powerful 
factor  towards  the  success  of  the  Reformation,  was 
only  an  illustration  of  a  general  fact.  There  were 
other  attachments  not  less  charming.  The  whole  pe- 
riod of  the  planting  of  Protestantism  abounds  in  re- 
markable adjustments  and  surrenders  of  individual 
tastes  and  capacities  for  the  achievement  of  a  great 
end.  Each  man  was  as  necessary  to  the  rest  as  their 
joint  work  was  necessary  to  the  success  of  the  whole 
movement.  It  was  a  harmony  of  opposites,  and  as 
complete  a  providential  blending  of  diverse  natures  as 
the  world  had  seen  since  the  days  of  the  apostles.  All 
temperaments  and  all  classes  of  society  were  drawn 
upon  to  make  the  one  harmonious  picture  of  a  young 
and  vigorous  Protestantism.  Some  of  Luther's  first 
and  strongest  friends  were  of  the  princely  and  noble 
class.  Of  the  rulers,  we  count  no  less  than  six  who 
were  devoted  friends  of  the  new  movement  for  the 
liberation  of  the  conscience,  and  followed  the  leader- 
ship of  Luther :  namely,  George,  Maurice,  Frederick 
the  Wise,  John,  and  John  Frederick,  all  princes  of 
Saxony,  and  Philip  of  Hesse.  While  enjoying  the  full 
confidence  of  these  men,  Luther  never  faltered  in  the 
assertion  of  personal  inde23endence.     He  never  com- 

4 


50  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

promised  a  2:n'incii)le.  In  fact,  he  gained  the  confidence 
of  the  princes  not  merely  by  his  valiant  defence  of  the 
truth,  but  by  his  candor  towards  them. 

4.  Ulrich  von  Hutten  and  Franz  von  Sikingen. — With 
the  princes,  ^ve  must  not  omit  to  join  two  fearless 
knights  as  friends  of  Protestantism — Ulrich  von  Hut- 
ten  and  Franz  von  Sikingen.  These  men  offered  Lu- 
ther the  use  of  their  swords  and  a  home  in  their  cas- 
tles, but  he  declined  them  both,  saying  that  his  was  a 
spiritual  conflict.  In  Luther's  immediate  circle,  as  co- 
workers with  him,  the  scholars  Justus  Jonas,  George 
Rorer,  Cruciger,  Forster,  and  Bugenhagen  stand  next 
to  Melanchthon.  These  men  were  mostly  won  to  the 
cause  of  reform  by  the  reading  of  Luther's  writings, 
or  the  hearing  of  his  lectures,  or  by  his  hymns;  and, 
having  once  come  within  the  charm  of  his  person,  be- 
came his  willing  co-operators  in  the  various  depart- 
ments for  which  each  was  fitted.  Bugenhagen  was 
elected  pastor  in  Wittenberg  through  Luther's  influ- 
ence, and  was  a  powerful  organizer  of  the  new  Protes- 
tant Church  in  North  Germany.  Jonas  was  a  professor 
in  the  university,  and  through  his  eloquence  the  city 
of  Halle  was  led  to  adopt  the  Protestant  cause.  Lucas 
Cranach,  the  most  celebrated  German  painter  of  his 
times,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Luther,  and  through 
him  we  have  accurate  portraits  of  the  parents,  the  en- 
tire family  of  Luther,  and  nearly  all  his  friends  and 
fellow-worker*.  Cranach  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  gro- 
tesque and  satirical,  and  it  was  his  pleasure  to  fur- 
nish woodcuts,  as  adjuncts  to  Luther's  stinging  words 
against  the  abuses  of  the  times. 


Chapter  VII. 
the  reformation  ix  german  switzerland. 

1.  The  Political  Condition  of  Switzerland  was  highly 
favorable  to  the  introduction  of  Protestant  ideas.  The 
country  was  divided  into  cantons,  or  districts,  an  ar- 
rangement that  had  existed  from  early  times.  Each 
canton  was,  in  a  measure,  independent  of  the  rest,  and 
yet  was  connected  in  a  federation  with  all  the  others. 
While  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  held  sway  over  all, 
the  people  of  each  canton  claimed  the  right  of  decid- 
ing what  their  confession  should  be.  The  spirit  per- 
vading all  the  cantons  was  that  of  civil  liberty;  and 
so,  when  the  Protestant  doctrines  descended  from  the 
north  the  Swiss  saw  in  them  a  system  of  religion  close- 
ly allied  to  their  political  traditions  and  preferences. 
Freedom  in  the  State,  as  the  Swiss  mind  saw  it,  was 
inseparable  from  freedom  of  conscience.  In  Zurich, 
the  largest  city  in  Eastern  Switzerland,  the  doctrines 
of  the  German  Reformers,  and  especially  the  works  of 
Luther,  took  strong  hold.  The  people,  speaking  the 
same  language  with  the  Germans,  read  the  earliest 
Protestant  writings  with  interest,  while  correspondence 
with  the  Reformers  fanned  the  flame. 

2.  Ulric  Zwingli  was  the  leader  of  the  new  move- 
ment in  Switzerland.  He  was  born  in  Wildhaus,  in 
1484.  In  his  ninth  year  he  went  to  Wesen,  where  he 
enjoyed  the  instruction  of  his  uncle,  the  dean  of  that 
place.     He  was  designed  by  his  parents  for  the  priest- 


52  SIIOET    IIISTOKY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

hood,  and  no  pains  were  spared  to  fit  him  for  his  call- 
ing. In  1494  he  went  to  Basel,  and  for  three  years 
was  a  student  in  the  St.  Theodore  School.  He  then 
went  to  Berne,  where  the  celehrated  Humanist,  Hein- 
rich  Wolfin,  introduced  him  to  a  profound  knowledge 
of  the  classics.  He  then  went  to  Venice,  where,  hav- 
ing Latinized  his  name,  he  appeared  as  the  student 
Cogentius.  In  1502  he  returned  to  Basel,  and,  in  ad- 
dition to  prosecuting  further  studies,  taught  in  the 
Latin  school  of  St. Martin.  AYyttenbach  came  to  Basel 
as  professor,  and  he  entered  a  bold  protest  against  in- 
dulgences. Zwingli  came  under  his  influence,  and, 
from  that  time  omvard,  it  is  likely  that  the  seeds  of 
Protestantism  lay  in  his  mind.  In  150G  he  became 
priest  in  Glarus,  and  remained  there  ten  years.  All 
the  while  he  was  an  ardent  student.  He  was  enrapt- 
ured with  the  new  Humanism,  and  yet  he  regarded  it 
only  as  an  aid  to  the  study  of  the  Bible.  He  wrote  at 
this  time  :  "  Nothing  but  God  shall  prevent  me  from 
acquiring  Greek;  not  for  fame,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures."  In  15 IG  Zwingli  went  to  the  cele- 
brated Abbey  of  Einsiedeln,  which  is  situated  on  a 
lofty  mountain  on  the  north  side  of  Lake  Zurich,  and 
is  still  visited  annually  by  many  thousands  of  pilgrims. 
Zwingli,  seeing  the  blind  idolatry  of  the  worshippers 
of  the  miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary  in  that 
abbey,  began  to  preacli  against  the  superstition. 

3.  Zwing'li's  Open  Rupture  with  Rome.  Zwingli  awak 
ened  violent  opposition  in  Einsiedeln.  He  was  brand- 
ed as  a  heretic,  and  yet  was  made  by  Pucci,  the  pope's 
agent,  the  object  of  great  attention  and  flattery.  The 
hope  was,  to  conquer  him  by  dissimulation.  But  Zwin- 
gli saw  through  the  deception,  and  kept  steadily  on  in 
his  course.     He  did  not  remain,  however,  any  longer 


GERMAN    SWITZERLAND.  63 

in  Einsiedelii,  but  removed  to  Zurich,  where  he  was 
priest  in  the  cathedral.  Indulgences  were  just  now 
sold  in  public  in  that  city,  and  Zwingli  proclaimed 
against  them.  Zurich  was  ready  for  the  Reformation, 
and  was  only  waiting  for  a  leader.  The  Humanist  cir- 
cles were  tired  of  the  old  darkness,  and  were  eager  for 
the  light  of  the  Gospel.  The  uneducated  masses  were 
overwhelmed  with  the  oppression  of  the  Hapsburgs 
and  the  priesthood.  "I  wish,"  said  Zwingli,  "that 
they  had  bored  a  hole  through  the  pope's  letter,  and 
hung  it  to  his  messenger's  back,  that  he  might  carry 
it  home.  If  a  wolf  is  seen  in  the  country,  you  sound 
an  alarm,  that  it  may  be  caught,  but  you  will  not  de- 
fend yourselves  from  the  wolves  that  ruin  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men.  How  appropriate  their  red  hats  and 
cloaks  !  If  you  shake  them,  out  fall  ducats.  If  you 
wring  them,  out  flows  the  blood  of  your  sons,  broth- 
ers, and  friends." 

Such  language  could  not  be  tolerated.  Maledictions 
were  hurled  against  Zwingli.  But  he  continued  to 
preach,  and  the  people  thronged  to  hear  him.  He  was 
fearless,  scriptural,  and  discreet.  He  was  now  drawn 
within  the  circle  of  Reformers,  and  at  once  became 
their  head  among  the  Swiss.  He  preached  strongly 
against  indulgences,  Mariolatry,  clerical  celibacy,  and, 
indeed,  the  whole  cluster  of  those  perverted  doctrines 
against  which  Luther  was  attacking  in  the  north.  Mass 
was  abolished  in  Zurich,  and,  one  by  one,  the  institu- 
tions of  Romanism  fell  to  the  ground.  Zwingli's  "  Six- 
ty-seven Articles  "  committed  him  so  thoroughly  to  the 
Protestant  cause  that  no  retracing  of  his  steps  was  sup- 
posable.  He  was  very  busy  with  his  pen.  His  "  Choos- 
ing and  Freedom  of  Foods,"  his  "  Christian  Introduc- 
tion," and  "True  and  False  Religion"  were  master- 
pieces  of  polemical  literature. 


54  SUORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFOKMATIOX. 

4.  Variations  from  the  German  Reform.  The  simplicity 
of  Zwiiigli's  views  of  worship  was  a  fundamental  qual- 
ity. His  repugnance  to  Romanism  was  so  strong  that 
he  resolved  on  a  complete  renunciation.  He  would 
have  no  pictures  or  organs  or  bells  in  the  churches,  or 
any  reminder  of  the  old  faith.  He  was  morbidly  in- 
tense in  his  dread  of  all  materialistic  elements.  He 
differed  radically  from  Luther  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  German  Reformer  holding  to  con- 
substantiation,  while  Zwingli  regarded  the  bread  and 
wine  as  only  symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 
The  two  Reformers  came  into  open  difference.  A  dis- 
cussion was  arranged,  and  they  met  in  the  Castle  of 
Marburg,  w^here  each  defended  his  views.  No  com- 
promise was  reached.  Luther,  with  a  piece  of  chalk 
in  his  hand,  wrote  in  great  characters  on  the  table, 
"Hoc  est  corpus  meum  "  (this  is  my  body),  and  with 
this  appeal  to  Christ's  own  w^ords  by  which  to  defend 
his  belief  in  consubstantiation,  the  discussion  closed. 
Henceforward  there  was  no  agreement  between  Ger- 
man and  Swiss  theology  on  the  Lord's  Supper.  Lu- 
ther and  Zwingli  returned  to  their  fields  of  labor, 
each  as  firmly  intent  upon  the  one  work  of  reform  as 
though  he  did  not  differ  from  his  brother  on  non-essen- 
tials in  theological  interpretation.  Bucer  tried  very 
hard  to  harmonize  the  Swiss  and  German  differences,  but 
failed  completely.  The  Helvetic  Confession,  adopted 
in  1536,  became  the  final  standard  of  doctrine  for  the 
Protestants  throughout  Eastern  Switzerland. 

5.  The  Religious  Conflict  in  the  Eastern  Cantons  be- 
came so  bitter  that  it  grew  into  an  a])peal  to  arms. 
Zuricli,  Avhich  had  been  included  in  the  bishopric  of 
Constance,  threw  off  all  episcopal  allegiance,  banished 
Latin  from  its  churches,  and  burned  the  time-honored 


GERMAN   SWITZEELAND.  55 

relics.  Some  of  the  eastern  cantons  followed  the  lead 
of  Zurich,  while  others  remained  firm  to  Catholicism. 
The  result  was  a  civil  war.  The  Roman  Catholic  can- 
tons were  aided  by  the  pope,  the  Austrian  empire,  and 
even  by  Spain,  while  France  and  England  helped  the 
Protestant  cantons.  The  Protestants  conquered.  The 
battle  of  Cai^pel,  near  Lake  Zug,  where  Zwingli  was 
killed,  in  1531,  was  followed  by  the  Peace  of  Cappel, 
which  declared  that  each  canton  should  decide  its  relig- 
ion for  itself. 

6.  Basel  was  an  important  centre  of  Protestant  move- 
ments in  German  Switzerland.  The  council  which  had 
been  held  there  in  the  preceding  century  had  left  a 
strong  desire  for  reform  among  the  people.  The  uni- 
versity was  a  rallying-place  of  minds  intent  upon  the 
liberty  of  science.  Erasmus  lived  in  its  cloisters  for  a 
time,  and  gave  his  scholarly  energies  to  the  good  work. 
Hedio,  Capito,  and  Roublin  preached  the  new  doctrines 
with  energy  and  success.  (Ecolampadius,  though  a 
German  by  birth,  became  pastor  of  St.  Martin's  Church, 
and  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  cause  in  the 
city.  In  other  parts  of  Eastern  Switzerland  the  Ref- 
ormation spread  with  amazing  rapidity,  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  Zurich  and  Basel,  the  cantons  of  St.  Gall  and 
Schaffhausen  renounced  allegiance  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic faith,  and  introduced  Protestant  worship  and  doc- 
trines  throughout  their  territory. 


Chapter  YIII. 
the  reformation  ix  frexch  switzerland. 

1.  The  Influence  of  the  German  Reformers  was  felt 
more  slowly  among  the  French  -  speaking  people  of 
Switzerland  than  among  those  who  spoke  German.  The 
difference  in  language  made  the  work  of  indoctrination 
no  easy  process.  The  course  of  Protestant  cA'angclism 
in  French  Switzerland  was  simple — an  eastern  current 
setting  in  from  German  Switzerland,  and  a  western 
one  coming  directly  from  France,  and  entering  by  Ge- 
neva as  a  door.  The  two  met  in  Berne,  which  city  at 
once  became  a  centre  for  the  dissemination  of  new  doc- 
trines throughout  the  French  cantons.  After  the  bat- 
tle of  Cappel  the  movement  spread  rapidly,  and  Avent 
as  far  as  Geneva,  where  it  allied  itself  with  the  forces 
already  in  operation  there.  Very  soon  a  strong  Prot- 
estant party  arose  in  that  city,  which  was  firm  in  the 
beginning,  and  never  wavered  until  it  gained  a  com- 
plete victory. 

2.  Geneva  had  been  long  an  object  of  the  ambition 
of  the  dukes  of  Savoy,  an  historical  struggle  later  com- 
memorated by  Byron  in  the  incident  which  suggested 
his  "  Prisoner  of  Chillon,"  an  historical  poem,  in  which 
Bonnivard  tells  the  sad  story  of  a  long  period  of  per- 
secution for  conscience'  sake: 

"  My  limbs  are  bowed,  though  not  with  toil, 
But  rusted  with  a  vile  repose; 
For  they  have  been  a  dungeon's  spoil, 
And  mine  has  been  the  fate  of  those 


FIIENCH    SWITZERLAND.  57 

To  whom  the  goodly  earth  and  air 
Are  bann'd  and  barr'd — forbidden  fare ; 
But  this  was  for  my  father's  faith 
I  suffered  chains  and  courted  death ; 
That  father  perished  at  the  stake 
For  tenets  he  could  not  forsake ; 
And  for  the  same  his  lineal  race 
In  darkness  found  a  dwelling-place ; 
We  were  seven  who  now  are  one, 

Six  in  youth  and  one  in  age 
Finished  as  they  had  begun, 

Proud  of  Persecution's  rage ; 
One  in  fire  and  two  in  field, 
Their  belief  with  blood  have  sealed ; 
Dying  as  their  father  died, 
For  the  God  their  foes  denied ; 
Three  were  in  a  dungeon  cast. 
Of  whom  this  wreck  is  left  the  last." 

A  religious  convention  was  held  in  Geneva  in  1534. 
Farel,  who  was  the  representative  of  the  new  doctrines, 
labored  by  speech  and  pen  for  their  introduction.  As 
in  Eastern  Switzerland,  so  here,  the  people  were  their 
own  rulers,  and  had  resisted  all  attempts  at  absorption 
by  ambitious  princes.  Popular  meetings  were  held, 
where  both  Romanism  and  Protestantism  were  dis- 
cussed freely.  The  doctrines  of  the  Reformers  spread, 
however,  until  the  majority  of  the  citizens  declared  in 
favor  of  them.  Anton  Froment  and  Peter  Viret  co- 
operated with  Farel  in  prosecuting  the  one  work  which 
lay  near  their  hearts. 

3.  John  Calvin.  —  All  the  great  Refonners  had  a 
prompt  and  subtile  perception  of  character.  They 
seemed  to  recognize  their  helpers  by  unerring  instinct. 
One  July  evening,  in  1536,  a  French  stranger  called  on 
Farel,  asked  advice,  expressed  sympathy  with  Refor- 
matioHj  and  was  about  to  take  his  leave  and  proceed 


58  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

on  his  journey.  But  Farel  was  so  attracted  to  him 
that  he  invited  him  to  spend  a  few  days.  This  stran- 
ger was  John  Calvin.  He  was  born  in  Noyon,  France, 
1509,  and  died  in  Geneva,  1564.  He  received  an  ex- 
cellent education,  and  was  thoroughly  prepared  for  the 
practice  of  the  law.  His  acquaintance  with  the  class- 
ics was  intimate.  His  first  work,  written  when  a  young 
man  of  twenty-three,  Avas  a  critical  edition  of  Seneca's 
essay  on  "Clemency."  He  studied  in  Paris,  Bourges, 
and  Orleans.  While  in  the  last  place,  and  about  the 
year  1532,  he  came  in  contact  with  a  German  reformer, 
who  told  him  more  fully  than  he  had  known  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  Protestants  of  Germany.  Calvin  re- 
solved to  turn  his  attention  to  theology,  and  to  accept 
the  doctrines  of  the  new  reform.  In  due  time  we  find 
him  going  abroad.  There  was  no  peace  for  his  soul, 
nor  any  rest  for  his  body.  He  went  southward,  and 
for  a  time  stayed  in  Angouleme,  where,  for  a  century, 
there  lingered  certain  pleasant  traditions  of  the  quiet 
stranger,  who  studied  hard  by  day  and  night.  He  left 
Angouleme,  and  knew  not  whither  to  go.  In  the  pref- 
ace to  his  "  Psalms  "  he  spoke  of  this  period  of  early 
uncertainty  and  anguish  of  soul:  "God  led  me  about 
by  so  many  circuitous  paths  that  I  could  nowhere  find 
rest."  During  1534  he  wandered  about  in  many  direc- 
tions, conversing  with  the  most  cultivated  jDCople,  and 
doing  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  communicate  a 
knowledge  of  Protestant  doctrines.  AVe  now  find  him 
suddenly  in  his  native  Noyon,  now  publishing  a  little 
book,  the  "  Psychopannychia,"  against  the  French  Ana- 
baptists, now  halting  a  while  in  Paris,  and  now,  with  a 
good  prospect  of  being  cast  into  prison  with  the  rest 
of  the  outspoken  foes  of  the  papacy,  resolving  to  go 
"to  some  hidden  corner"  in  Germany,  where  he  could 
study  theology  in  quiet. 


FRENCH    SWITZERLAND.  59 

4.  Arrival  in  Basel,  1535.  —  Of  all  Calvin's  friends, 
only  one  accompanied  him — Louis  du  Tillet.  He  was 
in  full  sympathy  with  him,  and  the  two  resolved  to 
travel  together  and  share  each  other's  fortunes.  The 
two  fugitives  had  no  easy  task  to  reach  the  limits  of 
France.  A  servant  stole  all  their  money  and  ran  away. 
They  reached  Basel  in  a  penniless  condition;  but  the 
Protestants  of  that  hospitable  city  had  welcomed  Farel 
ten  years  before,  and  also,  later,  both  Cop  and  Cou- 
rault ;  and  now  they  welcomed  with  the  same  cordial- 
ity both  Calvin  and  his  friend.  While  here  he  devoted 
himself  with  passionate  eagerness  to  Biblical  studies, 
for  he  knew  that  the  Bible  underlay  the  entire  Protes- 
tant fabric.  He  heard  unfavorable  news  from  France. 
The  Protestants  were  thrust  into  prison,  and  their  life 
was  in  constant  danger.  They  were  without  cohesion, 
guidance,  or  intention.  Calvin  resolved  to  write  a  the- 
ological system  for  their  special  benefit.  He  now  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  his  "Institutes  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion," which  he  published  in  1536,  and  which  became 
the  doctrinal  standard  for  all  the  Reformed  Churches 
of  the  Continent  and  Great  Britain. 

5.  Settlement  in  Geneva. — Calvin  had  no  great  sense 
of  relief  when  his  book  was  completed.  His  work  was 
published  under  the  assumed  name  of  "Martianus  Lu- 
canius,"  and  so  retired  had  been  his  manner  of  living, 
and  so  timid  his  nature,  that  no  one  knew  of  his  plan 
or  who  this  new  author  might  be.  Probably  to  avoid 
discovery,  as  much  as  for  any  other  reason,  he  deter- 
mined to  leave  Basel.  He,  in  company  Avith  his  friend 
Da  Tillet,  journeyed  to  Italy,  and  stayed  a  while  in 
Ferrara,  where  Renata,  the  Protestant  daughter  of 
Louis  XII.  of  France,  was  duchess.  He  then  quietly 
returned  to  his  native  town,  Noyon,  and  arranged  the 


60  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

affairs  of  his  now  broken  home,  and  left  it  forever. 
He  took  with  him  his  brother  Anton,  who  was  in  f  nil 
sympathy  with  his  views.  He  now  turned  his  face 
towards  Germany  again,  intending  to  make  Strasburg, 
or  perhaps  Basel,  his  permanent  home.  The  war  of 
this  time,  1536,  made  his  journey  a  dangerous  under- 
taking; and,  the  way  to  Strasburg  being  closed  against 
him,  he  was  compelled  to  go  southward  through  Savoy. 
One  evening,  about  July  1,  he  arrived  at  Geneva.  He 
expected  to  stay  one  night,  and  in  the  morning  to  pro- 
ceed northward.  Farel  was  fascinated  by  his  scholar- 
ship and  spirit. 

6.  Calvin  and  Farel.  —  Farel  invited  Calvin  to  settle 
in  Geneva,  and  take  charge  of  the  new  Protestant 
Church  of  that  city.  Calvin  refused.  He  pleaded  his 
youth,  inexperience,  constitutional  timidity,  and  the 
need  of  continuing  his  studies  in  a  place  where  he 
could  have  perfect  quiet.  He  begged  to  be  spared. 
But  Farel  saw  in  all  these  reasons  only  the  better 
ground  why  Calvin  should  stay  in  Geneva.  He  said, 
in  great  excitement,  to  him:  "You  plead  your  studies. 
But,  in  the  name  of  the  Almighty  God,  I  say  to  thee, 
God's  curse  will  overtake  thee  if  thou  deprivest  God's 
work  of  thy  help,  and  seek  thyself  more  than  Christ !" 
Farel's  threat  accomplished  what  his  persuasion  could 
not  do.  The  call  of  an  hour  lengthened  into  a  visit,  and 
the  visit  into  a  Avhole  lifetime.  The  acquaintance  be- 
tween Farel  and  Calvin  ripened  into  one  of  those  beau- 
tiful friendships  with  Avliich  Christianity  has  always 
abounded  in  its  periods  of  throe  and  agony.  By  a 
natural  gravitation  of  his  genius,  C\alvin  assumed  the 
direction  of  the  Protestant  movements  from  Geneva 
as  a  centre.  He  was  soon  in  charge  of  the  civil  ad- 
ministration of  the  city,  and  remained  identiiied  with 


FRENCH   SWITZERLAND.  61 

the  interests  of  its  citizens  until  his  death.  Without 
knowing  it,  the  group  of  Genevan  Reformers  were 
rather  waiting  for  guidance  than  following  a  settled 
policy.  They  were  pausing  for  a  leader,  and  now  they 
found  him  in  Calvin. 

7.  Calvin  as  Organizer  of  the  Genevese  Church.  —  To 
a  man  of  less  nerve  and  wisdom  than  Calvin,  the  work 
of  organizing  the  Protestants  of  Geneva  into  a  com- 
pact and  aggressive  Church  would  have  been  a  hope- 
less undertaking.  He  saw  that  the  first  need  was  a 
common  platform  of  faith  —  a  Confession.  In  three 
months*  time  the  Genevese  possessed  their  Confession, 
in  twenty-one  articles.  Farel's  name  stood  as  the  re- 
sponsible author,  but  Calvin's  exact  style  and  strong 
spirit  pervade  every  part.  On  November  10  it  was 
placed  before  the  city  council  for  adoption,  and  was 
accepted.  Then  came  new  measures,  one  after  another, 
in  rapid  succession — a  plan  for  popular  education,  a 
scheme  of  organization  of  the  Church  in  Geneva, 
measures  of  discipline  and  support,  and  a  catechism. 
Civil  regulations  were  shaped  according  to  the  new 
ecclesiastical  constitution,  and  some  of  the  regulations 
were  severe  and  exacting  in  the  extreme.  The  theo- 
logians were  novices  at  civil  legislation,  but  there  was 
no  want  of  Spartan  inflexibility. 

8.  Libertines  and  the  Exile  of  the  Reformers.  —  The 
Libertines,  a  political  party  of  Geneva,  who  were  op- 
posed to  the  strict  life  of  the  Reformers,  and  saw  in 
the  Reformation  a  restraint  on  the  morals  of  the  peo- 
f>le,  arose  against  both  Farel  and  Calvin,  and  secured 
their  banishment.  Farel,  after  a  stay  of  seven  weeks 
in  Basel,  went  to  Neuenburg  as  pastor,  and  Calvin 
went  to  Strasburg,  where,  a  few  years  before,  he  had 
found  a  refuge  from  persecution  at  home.     The  two 


62  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATIOX. 

Reformers  were  at  once  brought  into  close  relations 
with  the  Strasbiirg  circle  of  Protestant  leaders — Bii- 
cer,  Capito,  and  Hedio.  It  was  a  happy  company. 
Calvin  calculated  on  a  permanent  stay  there,  for  they 
saw  little  hope  of  the  early  rise  of  Protestant  author- 
ity in  Geneva.  lie  took  papers  of  citizenship  as  a 
Strasburg  resident,  and,  later,  in  1540,  was  married  to 
Idelette  von  Buren,  a  lady  in  every  way  worthy  of  his 
confidence  and  affection.  He  became  pastor  of  the 
French  Emigrant  Church,  and,  with  his  practical  du- 
ties, was  absorbed  in  his  studies. 

9.  The  Recall  to  Geneva. — In  due  time  the  people  of 
Geneva  rej^ented  of  their  error  in  banishing  the  two 
Reformers,  for  they  found  they  needed  them  for  the 
government  of  the  city.  Calvin  was  recalled,  but, 
with  true  nobility  of  his  soul,  refused  to  accept  the 
offer  unless  Farel,  his  early  benefactor,  was  also  per- 
mitted to  return.  The  same  liberty  was  therefore 
granted  Farel,  and  the  two  were  welcomed  back  to 
the  city  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  whole  population. 
Henceforth  Calvin  stood  at  the  head  of  affairs,  and 
continued  in  that  relation  until  his  death.  He  "  be- 
longed to  Geneva  henceforth,  and  Geneva  to  him." 
The  organization  of  the  Genevese  Church  was  perfected 
in  directions  where  it  had  proved  to  be  weak  ;  Calvin 
preached  repentance,  that  the  entire  population  should 
repent  of  their  sins  of  many  years,  and  begin  to  serve 
God  anew.  Viret  became  a  powerful  aid  to  him  and 
Farel,  and  there  was  no  want  of  strong  and  wise  lead- 
ership. Laws  relating  to  the  clergy,  the  church,  di- 
vine service,  and  schools  were  enacted,  and  there  Avas 
no  department  passed  by  in  the  new  administration 
under  the  direction  of  Calvin.  A  Protestant  univer- 
sity was  established  in  that  city,  where  young  men 


JOHN    CALVIN. 


64  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

were  trained  in  the  new  doctrines  of  Protestantism. 
A  theological  seminary  was  organized  in  Lausanne, 
under  the  direction  of  Viret,  and  strongly  aggressive 
measures  were  employed  to  extend  the  work  through- 
out the  French  cantons. 

10.  Beza. — The  work  left  unfinished  by  Calvin  at 
his  death  was  taken  up  by  Beza.  His  nature  was  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  Calvin.  The  latter  had  a  broader 
mind,  was  stronger  in  purpose,  and  could  have  ruled  a 
kingdom,  had  he  been  born  to  an  earthly  crown.  He 
was  a  master  in  the  management  of  men,  less  by  ac- 
commodating differences  than  by  inducing  men  to  ac- 
cept his  own  views.  His  theology  found  its  way  into 
Germany,  where  it  produced  the  Reformed  Church; 
was  taught  in  the  University  of  Heidelberg ;  extended 
to  Holland ;  formed  the  basis  of  the  prevailing  confes- 
sion there;  crossed  the  Channel  into  England;  exerted 
a  marked  influence  on  the  new  Anglican  Church ;  as- 
cended into  Scotland;  became  the  theological  founda- 
tion of  the  Scotch  National  Church  ;  came  over  to  this 
country  with  the  Pilgrims  in  the  Mayflower  in  1620; 
and  has  had  no  small  share  in  moulding  the  faith  of 
the  people  in  the  colonies  and  states,  and  the  territories 
which  have  grown  from  them. 

11.  The  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  adopted  in  1566, 
became  the  formula  of  faith  for  the  Protestants  of  all 
French  Switzerland.  It  was  in  general  harmony  with 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  but  with  more  emphasis  on 
the  doctrine  of  election.  The  Protestantism  of  Geneva 
and  other  parts  of  French  Switzerland  exerted  a  strong 
influence  on  the  cause  in  France.  The  intercourse  was 
constantly  maintained.  The  works  from  the  Genevan 
press,  and  especially  the  tracts,  were  carried  by  trades- 
men and  others  into  most  of  the  southern  provinces  of 


FRENCH    SWITZERLAND.  65 

France,  and  aided  largely  in  creating  a  French  senti- 
ment and  giving  courage  to  the  rising  Huguenots. 
Thus  Geneva,  which  became  a  refuge  for  the  fugitive 
Calvin  and  other  French  Protestants,  became  a  fort 
which,  for  generations,  and,  indeed,  down  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  has  discharged  its  Protestant  artillery  against 
the  very  country  which  produced  and  drove  out  its  best 
sons  and  daughters. 

5 


ClIArTER    IX. 
THE    ENGLISH    EEFOEMATIOX. — FIRST   PEEIOD,  1509-1553. 

1.  The  Early  Attempts  at  Reformation  in  England  were 
in  advance  of  those  in  any  other  part  of  Euro^^e.  To 
that  country  belongs  the  honor  of  having  discovered 
the  need  of  a  universal  religious  regeneration  in  Eu- 
rope. The  beginnings  of  reform  centred  in  Wycliffe, 
born  about  1324.  He  was  a  student,  and  afterwards 
professor,  in  Oxford.  His  first  position  of  hostility  to 
the  prevailing  doctrines  was  his  declaration  against  the 
mendicant  monks,  who  went  up  and  down  the  land,  ex- 
torting money  from  the  people,  and  preaching  against 
learning  and  progress  in  every  form.  He  issued  sev- 
eral pamphlets  against  them,  and  called  loudly  to  his 
countrymen  to  get  rid  of  them.  So  signal  was  his  ser- 
vice that  he  was  promoted  to  a  wardenship  in  Oxford 
— namely,  of  Balliol  Hall,  or  College.  Four  years 
later,  in  1365,  he  became  master  of  Canterbury  Hall, 
or  tlie  Christ  College  of  a  later  day. 

2.  Attacks  on  Wycliffe. — Schemes  were  soon  in  prog- 
ress on  the  part  of  Langham,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, to  eject  Wycliffe,  and  the  pope  issued  a  bull  to 
that  effect  in  1370.  Wycliffe  replied  by  a  tract  against 
the  papal  policy  arraying  itself  in  hostility  to  the  nation. 
The  king,  Edward  III.,  v>'as  already  in  revolt  against 
the  pope,  and  took  up  the  cause  of  Wycliffe,  who  was 
appointed  a  royal  chaplain  and  rector  of  Lutterworth. 
Wycliffe  gained  a  clearer  view  every  year  of  the  cor- 


THE    ENGLISH   REFOEMATION.  67 

ruptions  of  the  church,  and  preached  boldly  against 
them.  He  was  summoned  by  the  authorities  of  the 
church  for  trial  for  heresy,  but  was  rescued  by  his 
friends.  A  second  time  he  was  tried,  and  escaped 
through  the  sympathy  of  the  people.  The  court,  which 
was  held  in  Lambeth  Palace,  broke  up  in  disorder,  but 
not  without  commanding  Wycliffe  to  stop  preaching 
and  writing.  But  he  was,  if  possible,  more  industrious 
than  ever.  He  spared  no  evil  that  he  saw  about  him, 
and  hurled  anathemas  against  wilful  pope  and  deluded 
priesthood.  He  died  a  natural  death  in  his  own  house 
in  Lutterwortli.  The  same  council  which  executed 
Huss,  that  of  Constance,  in  1415,  condemned  the  writ- 
ings of  Wy cliff e,  and  in  1428  his  dust  was  taken  from 
the  grave,  and  cast  out  upon  the  Avon.  The  event 
gave  rise  to  Fuller's  lines  : 

"  The  Avon  to  the  Severn  runs, 
And  Severn  to  the  sea ; 
And  Wycliffe's  dust  shall  spread  abroad, 
Wide  as  the  waters  be." 

3.  Wyclifife's  English  Bible.— Wycliffe's  greatest  ser- 
vice to  the  coming  Reformation  was,  first,  his  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  and  afterwards  the  whole 
Bible,  into  English.  It  was  the  first  attempt  at  repro- 
ducing any  considerable  portion  of  the  Scriptures  into 
the  popular  tongue,  and  was  a  new  revelation  to  the 
English  people.  The  original  of  his  translation  was 
the  Latin  Vulgate,  a  very  faulty  source,  but  yet  good 
enough  to  create  a  thirst  for  better  things  and  prepare 
the  way  for  the  pure  Word.  Between  Wycliffe  and 
the  Reformers  of  Henry  YIII.'s  reign  lay  a  period  of 
nearly  two  centuries.  But  through  all  those  years  the 
seeds  planted  by  Wycliffe  never  died.  No  great  in- 
terval passed  without  some  bold  spirit  arising,  and 


68  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

saying  strong  words  of  protest  against  the  errors  of 
the  times.  The  age  was  not  rij^e,  as  yet,  for  organized 
effort.  The  herald's  mission  must  first  be  wrought 
out. 

4.  Agencies  of  Reform. — The  political  character  of  the 
English  Reformation  was  a  striking  feature  from  the  out- 
set. In  this  regard  the  new  movement  differed  from  that 
in  all  other  countries,  except  Holland.  While  the  people 
were  fully  ready  for  religious  revolt,  the  first  organized 
rupture  with  Rome  came  from  the  king,  Henry  VIII. 
The  influence  of  his  court  was  favorable  to  the  cause, 
not  as  a  spiritual  necessity,  but  as  a  means  of  national 
independence.  Then  came  the  inflow  of  Protestants 
from  the  Continent.  Many  learned  men  crossed  the 
Channel,  and  settled  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and 
oonducted  discussions  in  favor  of  the  Reformation. 
Among  them  may  be  mentioned  Ochino,  Peter  Martyr, 
Martin  Bucer,  Paul  Fagius,  and  Tremellius.  But  great- 
er of  all  the  men  from  abroad  was  Erasmus,  whose 
Greek  New  Testament  found  a  ready  entrance  into 
England.     He  settled  in  Cambridge  and  taught  there. 

5.  Henry  VIII.'s  Patronage  of  the  Reformation.  Hen- 
ry's grievance  against  Romanism  was  purely  j^ersonal. 
He  wanted  more  wives  than  Rome  was  willing  to  grant 
him.  He  had  been  married,  while  his  father  was  yet 
king,  to  Catharine  of  Aragon,  the  daughter  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  and  the  widow  of  Henry  VII. 's  eld- 
est son,  Arthur.  The  king,  for  political  reasons,  chose 
Catharine  as  wife  for  his  second  son  and  successor  on 
the  throne,  Henry  VIII.  After  a  marriage  of  nearly 
twenty  years,  Henry  VIII.  resolved  on  a  divorce  from 
Catharine,  and  the  disinheriting  of  their  daughter  Mary. 
His  object  was  to  marry  Anne  Bolcyn.  But  the  ques- 
tion was,  how  to  get  the  pope's  consent.     Wolsey  was 


THE    ENGLISH    KEFOKMATION.  69 

deputed  to  do  this  work,  and  to  proceed  in  person  to 
Rome.  Should  the  pope  consent,  he  would  oifend  the 
Emperor  Charles  Y.,  who  would  be  insulted  by  the  di- 
vorce of  Henry  from  Catharine.  Should  he  refuse,  he 
knew  that  it  would  be  an  affront  to  England.  He  chose 
the  latter,  as  by  that  course  he  thought  he  would  have 
less  to  lose.  What  should  Henry  VHI.  do  ?  He  had 
made  public  his  determination.  The  religious  revolt 
in  Germany  proved  to  him  that  rebellion  against  the 
papacy  was  in  the  air  of  the  age.  His  own  people  were 
eager  for  reform.  So  he  determined  to  put  away  his 
wife,  disavow  his  daughter,  and  make  Anne  Boleyn 
his  queen.  This  brought  about  an  open  rupture  with 
the  pope.  Henry's  real  purpose  was  a  National  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  with  himself  as  head.  But  this  proved 
an  impossibility.  He  saw  there  could  not  be  two  inde- 
pendent Catholicisms,  one  on  the  Tiber  and  the  other 
on  the  Thames.  He  was  borne  along  by  the  current 
of  his  people,  and  found  himself  finally  compelled  to 
link  himself  ostensibly  with  the  new  Protestantism, 
and  yet,  in  reality,  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  old 
Romanism.  Henry  VIH.  was  a  Roman  Catholic  in  all 
but  name  and  endorsement  of  the  papacy.  He  despised 
the  Lutheran  doctrines,  and  even  wrote  against  them. 
His  book  against  Luther  was  so  fully  Romanist  that  it 
was  hailed  in  Rome  as  a  powerful  attack  on  Protes 
tantism,  and  it  even  secured  to  Henry  YIII.,  from  Leo 
X.,  the  title  of  "  defender  of  the  faith."  Luther,  how- 
ever, went  on  steadily.  He  was  master  of  his  theme, 
and,  besides  refuting  the  positions  of  Henry,  paid  him 
the  compliment  of  saying  :  ''When  God  wants  a  fool, 
he  turns  a  king  into  a  theological  writer." 

There  was  no  positively  settled  policy  on  the  part 
of  king  or  parliament.     One  day  the  Roman  Catholics, 


70  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

under  the  lead  of  Cardinal  Pole  and  Bishop  Gardiner, 
had  the  confidence  of  the  king,  and  on  another  Thom- 
as Cromwell  and  Cranmer  Avere  the  stronger.  Parlia- 
ment was  the  willing  servant  of  a  capricious  tyrant, 
and  at  one  hour  was  ready  to  revoke  its  work  of  the 
preceding  one.  As  a  proof  of  how  nearly  England  re- 
mained Roman  Catholic  under  Henry  VIII.,  we  may 
mention  the  fact  that,  at  his  dictation,  in  1538,  parlia- 
ment established  the  following  six  articles  of  faith : 

1.  Transubstantiation,  or  the  real  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

2.  Sufficiency  of  communion  in  one  kind  only. 

3.  Illegality  of  the  marriage  of  priests. 

4.  Obligation  of  vows  of  celibacy. 

5.  Propriety  of  retaining  private  masses. 

6.  Necessity  of  the  confessional. 

It  must  be  remembered,  hoAvever,  that,  notwithstand- 
ing all  these  attachments  to  the  old  Romanism,  the 
country  was  gradually  drifting  away  from  it.  The 
old  order  was  breaking  up.  The  Bible  was  publicly 
distributed,  and  Protestant  doctrines  were  gaining 
more  friends  every  day. 

6.  Colet  and  Sir  Thomas  More  were  of  great  influence 
in  bringing  about  the  revolution  in  the  popular  mind. 
The  former  had  studied  the  classics  in  Italy,  and 
brought  with  him  to  Oxford  an  ardent  love  for  the 
new  Humanism.  His  great  object  of  attack  was  the 
profligacy  of  the  Church,  from  the  papacy  down, 
through  all  grades  of  priesthood,  as  he  had  witnessed 
it  in  Rome.  He  cried  aloud  for  the  redemption  of  his 
beloved  England:  "  Oh,  Jesu  Christ,  wasli  for  us  not 
'  our  feet  only,  but  also  our  hands  and  our  head.' 
Otherwise  our  disordered  Church  cannot  be  far  from 
death !"     Sir  Thomas  More  was  a  student  in  Oxford 


THE    ENGLISH    KEFORMATION.  71 

when  he  adopted  Protestant  doctrines.  He  became 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  and  was  a  devoted  and 
confidential  friend  of  the  king.  But  he  incurred  the 
king's  displeasure  by  disapproving  the  latter's  divorce 
from  Catharine  of  Aragon,  and  absented  himself  from 
the  coronation  of  Anne  Boleyn.  He  refused  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  her  as  queen,  and  was  sent  to 
the  Tower  of  London,  and  afterwards  beheaded.  He 
was  a  model  of  eloquence,  purity  of  heart,  domestic 
virtue,  simplicity,  and  tenderness.  After  kissing  his 
executioner,  he  said,  "  Thou  art  to  do  me  the  greatest 
benefit  that  I  can  receive  ;  pluck  up  thy  spirit,  man, 
and  be  not  afraid  to  do  thine  office.  My  neck  is  very 
short ;  take  heed,  therefore,  that  thou  strike  not  awry, 
for  saving  of  thine  honesty." 

7.  Cranmer  was,  of  all  men  of  his  time,  most  power- 
ful in  hastening  the  English  reform.  He  erred  in  fa- 
voring the  divorce  of  Henry  and  Catharine.  He  was 
rewarded  by  the  king  with  the  highest  ecclesiastical 
preferment  in  his  gift,  the  archbishopric  of  Canter- 
bury. But  Cranmer  was  a  pure  and  unselfish  man, 
and  expressed  only  his  real  convictions.  When  he  af- 
terwards yielded  to  Henry  so  far  as  to  pronounce  his 
marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn  void,  he  was  still  the  same 
pure  man,  but  unwisely  and  irresolutely  submitted  to 
the  pressure  of  the  king.  Cranmer  became  one  of  the 
regents  of  the  kingdom  after  Henry's  death.  The 
young  Edward,  who  succeeded  Henry,  was  a  Protes- 
tant, but  he  died  early,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mary,  a 
rigid  Roman  Catholic.  The  court  was  at  once  filled 
with  men  in  sympathy  with  her.  The  Reformers  were 
now  in  danger.  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  Ridley  were 
thrown  into  the  Tower.  Cranmer,  in  a  moment  of 
weakness,  signed  a  recantation,  but  soon  withdrew  it. 


72  SHORT    IIISTOEY    OF    THE    KEFOEMATION. 

He,  with  Latimer  and  Ridley,  was  burned  at  the  stake 
in  1556.  His  last  words  were,  as  he  held  in  the  flames 
the  hand  with  Avhich  he  had  written  his  recantation, 
"  This  unworthy  hand  !  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit!" 
8.  The  Publication  of  the  Bible  in  the  language  of 
the  people  was  the  most  powerful  single  agency  in 
bringing  about  the  English  Reformation.  Tyndale 
translated  the  New  Testament,  which  was  printed  in 
Antwerp,  in  1526,  and  introduced  into  England,  and 
circulated  quietly  over  the  country.  Miles  Coverdale's 
translation  of  the  entire  Bible  appeared  in  1535.  This 
was  the  first  complete  English  Bible  ever  printed. 
Without  bearing  any  imj^rint  of  place  or  printer,  the 
evidence  is  strong,  founded  on  the  resemblance  of 
types,  that  it  was  printed  in  Zurich,  by  Christopher 
Froschover.  Coverdale  also  published  several  of  the 
Psalms  in  verse,  with  musical  notes.  The  date  is  not 
known,  but  it  was  probably  before  1538.  The  follow- 
ing was  the  way  in  which  he  sent  out  his  little  book 
on  its  singing  mission  : 

"  Be  not  ashamed  I  warande  the 

Though  thou  be  rude  in  songe  and  ryme, 
Thou  shalt  to  youth  some  occasion  be 
In  Godly  sportes  to  passe  theyr  tyme." 

The  following  is  his  first  stanza  of  Psalm  cxxxvii.  : 

"  At  the  rivers  of  Babilon 

there  sat  we  doune  ryght  hevcly 
Even  whan  we  thought  upon  Sion 

we  wept  together  sorofuUy 
for  we  were  in  soch  hevyncs 
y*  we  forgat  al  our  merynes 

and  left  of  all  our  sporte  and  playe 
on  the  willye  trees  y'  were  therby 
we  hanged  up  our  harpcs  truly 

And  niorned  pore  both  night  and  day." 


THE    ENGLISH    REFOKMATIOIS'.  73 

Matthew's  Bible  appeared  in  1539,  with  the  royal 
sanction.  Cranmer's  translation  of  the  Bible  had, 
likewise,  the  royal  approval,  and  was  powerful  in 
gaining  many  minds  to  the  cause  of  reform.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  Scriptures,  other  writings  were  circulated, 
as  formularies  of  doctrine  and  the  public  services. 
Among  these  must  be  mentioned  "  The  Ten  Articles," 
"  The  Bishop's  Book,"  "  The  King's  Book,"  and  "  The 
King's  Primer."  Then  comes  Erasmus's  "  Paraphrase 
of  the  Scriptures,"  which,  in  1547,  was  placed  in  the 
parish  churches.  In  the  same  year  the  first  "  Book  of 
Homilies"  went  out,  with  the  royal  approval.  In  1548 
the  "First  Communion  Office,"  "Cranmer's  Cate- 
chism," and  the  "  First  English  Liturgy,  or.  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,"  were  issued.  In  1552  the  "Second 
English  Liturgy,  or.  Book  of  Common  Prayer,"  was 
ordered  for  use,  while,  in  1553,  the  "  Fifty-two  Articles 
of  Religion "  and  the  "  Larger  Catechism "  were  ap- 
proved and  enjoined. 

9.  The  Condition  of  the  Reformation.  At  Henry's 
death  Protestantism  in  England  still  continued  to  be 
an  uncertainty.  Much  had  been  done,  but  no  fixed 
state  of  things  had  been  reached.  Protestant  influ- 
ences were  permeating  the  masses,  and  this  was  the 
most  hopeful  sign.  Both  the  king  and  his  subjects 
had  rejected  the  pope's  supremacy.  The  people  had 
become  acquainted  with  the  Bible,  and  many  now  pos- 
sessed copies  in  their  own  tongue.  The  monasteries 
had  been  suppressed,  and  their  vast  wealth  secularized. 
A  visitancy,  to  arrange  services  and  preach  Protes- 
tantism, was  ordered  throughout  the  kingdom.  Relig- 
ious formularies  were  made  binding  upon  the  people, 
and  all  the  ecclesiastical  oflices  were  filled  with  Protes- 
tants.    But  Rome  was  still  watchful  for  the  opportu- 


74  SHORT   HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

nity   of   restoration   in  England.     It  was  too  fair  a  ; 

land  to   lose.     Besides,  there  was  a  powerful  party  | 

at  home  which  was  eager  to  restore  the  old  order,  i 

and,   by    so    doing,   to    bring    itself    to    power   and  I 

wealth.  ! 


Chapter   X. 

THE    ENGLISH    EEFORMATION. SECOND    PERIOD, 

1558-1603. 

1.  The  Reaction  under  Edward  VI.— There  was  great 
uncertainty  as  to  the  succession  to  Henry  VIII.  On 
the  occupant  of  the  throne  depended  largely  the  ques- 
tion of  Protestantism  in  the  British  Isles.  Henry  had 
left  three  children  —  Mary,  whose  mother  was  Cath- 
arine of  Aragon  ;  Elizabeth,  whose  mother  was  Anne 
Boleyn;  and  Edward,  whose  mother  was  Jane  Sey- 
mour. It  was  now  a  question  as  to  whether  Mary, 
Elizabeth,  or  Edward  should  rule.  The  result  proved 
that  each  one  Avore  the  crown.  But  who  should  first 
wear  it?  Henry  VIII.  and  Catharine  had  been  di- 
vorced, and  hence  that  ruled  out  Mary.  Anne  Boleyn 
was  condemned  to  death,  and  that  was  a  declaration 
that  her  child,  Elizabeth,  Avas  illegitimate.  Against 
Edward  no  such  objection  could  be  made.  His  mother 
died  a  natural  death,  too  early  and  too  young  to  be 
cast  away  by  the  king.  All  England  was  divided 
into  parties.  The  friends  of  Edward  were  shrewd 
and  bold.  They  won  at  last,  and  seated  the  boy  on 
the  throne,  in  1547,  when  he  was  only  ten  years  of  age. 
There  was  a  protectorate  over  him,  the  first  protector 
being  the  king's  uncle  on  his  mother's  side,  Edward 
Seymour,  Duke  of  Somerset ;  the  second,  Dudley,  Earl 
of  Warwick.  In  addition  to  these  men,  who  were 
Protestants,  and  gave  a  Protestant  direction  to  the  ad- 


76  THE    ENGLISH   KEFOKMATION. 

ministration,  Cranmer  was  the  constant  and  practical 
adviser  of  young  Edward.  In  due  time  England  was 
brought  into  strong  Protestant  sympathies,  and  spe- 
cial efforts  were  employed  to  indoctrinate  the  people 
in  Protestant  princij^les.  An  improved  catechism  was 
used  for  popular  instruction;  the  Lord's  Suj^per  was 
administered  in  both  kinds;  and  the  mass,  clerical  cel- 
ibacy, the  worship  of  images,  and  the  invocation  of 
saints  were  abolished. 

2.  Mary  as  Queen. — Edward  YI.  died  in  1553.  There 
now  arose  new  troubles  about  the  succession,  and  it 
Avas  a  question  as  to  whether  a  Protestant  or  Roman- 
ist should  wear  the  crown.  The  strongest  party  would 
again  win,  and  this  time  it  was  Mary's  friends,  Mary 
had  been  a  sufferer  on  account  of  her  Roman  Catholic 
faith.  The  daughter  of  Henry  YIII.  and  Catharine 
of  Aragon,  she  carried  to  her  new  position  the  bitter 
memory  of  the  injustice  done  her,  and  a  determination 
to  restore  the  land  to  the  faith  of  her  mother  and  her 
remote  Spanish  ancestors.  A  formal  alliance  with  Spain 
was  brought  about  through  her  marriage  with  Philip 
II.  of  Spain.  No  pains  were  now  spared  to  bring  into 
force  the  old  order.  Parliament  hesitated;  but  its 
members,  finally  fearing  for  their  heads,  tamely  sub- 
mitted. Power  was  restored  to  the  ecclesiastical  courts 
to  depose  and  punish  as  they  might  judge  best.  No 
less  than  sixteen  thousand  clergymen  were  deposed 
from  their  positions.  Strict  celibaey  was  enjoined  on 
every  pastor.  Tlie  oath  of  royal  supremacy  was  no 
longer  required.  Tlie  Englisli  language  was  banished 
from  the  public  services,  and  the  Latin  restored  to  its 
old  place.  All  the  old  ceremonies  in  use  before  Henry 
were  brought  back  again.  Protestant  teachers  were 
ejected  from  the  universities.     A  commission  was  ap- 


THE    ENGLISH    REFORMATION.  77 

pointed  to  suppress  heresy,  and  martyr-fires  were  kin- 
dled in  various  parts  of  England.  A  low  estimate  of 
persons  burned  places  the  martyrdoms  at  eight  hun- 
dred. The  number  would  have  gone  to  thousands  had 
not  many  leading  Reformers  fled  to  the  Continent. 
Strasburg,  Zurich,  Geneva,  and  other  places  became 
their  homes,  where  they  established  services  in  the  Eng- 
lish language,  and  waited  until  the  time  might  come 
when  they  could  return  home. 

3.  The  Final  Triumph  of  the  Reformation.— Elizabeth 
succeeded  Mary  in  1558.  She  was  gifted  with  rare 
caution,  strong  will,  and  a  quick  and  accurate  percep- 
tion of  character.  She  was  a  devoted  Protestant,  and 
immediately  set  to  work  to  complete  the  interrupted 
fabric  of  reform  in  her  dominions.  The  country  was 
desperate  because  of  material  reverses.  England  was 
losing  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the  people  were  ready 
for  any  change.  Roman  Catholic  rule  had  proven  its 
inability  to  make  them  prosperous  and  happy.  The 
queen  at  once  recognized  Protestantism  as  the  national 
faith.  The  "  Articles  "  and  second  "  Book  of  Homilies  " 
were  adopted  in  parliament  and  convocation,  in  1563, 
and  Protestants  were  placed  in  charge  of  all  the 
churches.  The  exiles  came  home  from  the  Continent, 
and  were  among  the  most  zealous  in  promoting  the 
work  of  reform. 

4.  The  Independents  were  a  growing  class  of  people, 
who  believed  that  neither  Henry  nor  Elizabeth  had 
broken  fully  from  Rome.  They  looked  upon  the  elab- 
orate ceremonial,  the  episcoi3acy,  the  use  of  robes,  and 
the  mild  observance  of  the  Sabbath  as  wretched  rem- 
nants of  the  evil  times,  and  would  do  away  with  all 
such  reminders  of  Antichrist.  They  refused  to  adopt 
the  new  order,  and  would  establish  one  of  their  own, 


78  SHORT   HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

in  harmony  with  the  example  of  the  Genevan  Church. 
Elizabeth  took  strong  ground  against  the  Indepen- 
dents. The  Act  of  Uniformity  was  enforced  in  1563, 
and  this  was  the  first  stroke  of  separation.  Lords  Bur- 
leigh and  Walsingham  endeavored  in  vain  to  secure  a 
compromise.  The  first  English  presbytery  was  organ- 
ized at  Wandsworth,  and  was  the  practical  beginning 
of  all  the  non-conforming  bodies  of  England.  But, 
despite  all  the  internal  divisions  of  English  Protestant- 
ism, the  Reformation  became  a  fact  under  Elizabeth. 
Her  long  reign  brought  to  England  material  prosper- 
ity; but,  still  more,  a  strong  and  enduring  Protestant- 
ism. 

5.  The  Puritan  Pilgrims. — The  most  important  event 
of  the  English  Reformation,  in  its  relation  to  America, 
Avas  the  rise  of  the  Brownist  sect.  Robert  Bro-vvn, 
born  about  1550,  was  a  student  in  Cambridge.  "While 
there  he  adopted  Puritan  views,  and  became  a  warm 
advocate  of  them.  His  followers  went  by  the  name 
of  Brownists,  and  were  alike  firm  in  their  hostility  to 
the  Church  of  England  and  Romanism.  The  Brown- 
ists were  persecuted,  not  so  much  by  royal  order  as  by 
the  ecclesiastical  courts.  Unable  to  circulate  their 
writings  or  hold  public  services,  they  fled  from  Eng- 
land, and  organized  a  Church  in  Amsterdam,  and  after- 
wards in  Leyden.  In  the  latter  place  John  Robinson 
was  their  pastor.  They  resolved  on  leaving  Holland, 
and  set  sail  for  the  New  World.  They  landed  at 
Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  in  1020,  and  became  the 
chief  factor  for  the  civil  and  religious  development  of 
the  colonies  and  the  United  States.  Holmes,  in  his 
*'  Robinson  of  Leyden,"  thus  pictures  the  hour  of  their 
departure: 


THE    ENGLISH   KEFOKMATION.  79 

No  home  for  these !     Too  well  they  knew 

The  mitred  king  behind  the  throne ; 
The  sails  were  set,  the  pennons  flew, 

And  westward  ho !  for  worlds  unknown. 

And  these  were  they  who  gave  us  birth, 

The  Pilgrims  of  the  sunset  wave. 
Who  won  for  us  this  virgin  earth, 

And  freedom  with  the  soil  they  gave," 


Chapter  XL 

THE    SCOTCH    REFORMATION. 

1.  The  Scotch  Reformers  were  of  sturdy  type,  like  their 
own  rugged  bills.  Their  country  was  not  as  yet  under 
the  English  crown,  but  was  a  separate  kingdom,  di- 
vided into  fierce  and  warlike  clans,  and  ruled  by  the 
Stuarts,  a  royal  family  in  full  sympathy  with  Rome. 
The  bishops  and  the  rulers  were  in  close  league  to  re- 
sist all  Protestant  encroachments.  The  new  doctrines, 
however,  did  cross  the  Tweed,  and  were  adopted  there 
in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Cardinal  Beatoun 
was  appointed  leading  inquisitor,  and  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  burn  heretics  without  mercy.  Patrick  Hamil- 
ton was  the  first  Protestant  leader.  He  was  for  a  time 
on  the  Continent,  and  though  the  movement  was  haz- 
ardous, he  returned  to  Scotland,  to  carry  out  the  cause 
that  lay  near  his  heart.  He  was  not  long  permitted 
to  preach  and  teach  the  new  doctrines.  He  suffered 
martyrdom,  and  his  followers  were  left  without  a 
guide. 

2.  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. — Mary  Stuart  was  tlie  daugh- 
ter of  James  V.,  King  of  Scotland.  Her  f  atlier  said  of 
her :  "The  kingdom  cam'  wi'  a  lass  (daughter  of  Rob- 
ert Bruce),  an'  it  wuU  gae  wi'  a  lass."  His  words  be- 
came a  correct  prophecy.  The  country  was  under  a 
protectorate  during  her  minority,  about  nineteen  years. 
Through  this  period  the  drift  Avas  constantly  towards 
Protestantism.     The  Scotch  had  imbibed  the  Calvin- 


THE    SCOTCH    KEFOEMATION.  81 

istic  doctrines,  and  were  growing  firmer  in  their  at- 
tachment every  year.  Mary,  on  licr  reception  as  queen, 
caused  great  offence  to  them.  Her  French  confessors 
and  courtiers  gave  extreme  Roman  Catholic  color  to 
the  very  first  days  of  her  reign.  Knox  expressed 
the  deep  feeling  of  the  people  when  he  prayed  :  "  Pu- 
rify, O  Lord,  the  heart  of  the  queen  from  the  poi- 
son of  idolatry.  Release  her  from  the  bondage  of  Sa- 
tan in  which  she  was  brought  up,  and  in  which,  from 
want  of  true  teaching,  she  still  remains."  Mary's  life 
was  not  blameless.  In  1565  she  was  married  to  the 
Earl  of  Darnley.  A  disagreement  took  place  between 
them,  and,  the  queen  being  attached  to  an  Italian,  Riz- 
zio,  Darnley  headed  a  conspiracy  which  murdered  him. 
Darnley  himself,  according  to  the  general  opinion  of 
the  Scotch  at  the  time,  was  put  to  death  by  Bothwell, 
at  Mary's  instance,  through  the  combined  method  of 
strangling  and  the  explosion  of  the  house  in  w^hich  he 
lay  ill.  Shortly  afterwards  Mary  married  Bothwell. 
The  i3eople  had  endured  her  rule  as  long  as  possible. 
The  illustration  of  Romanism  in  the  rule  and  life  of 
their  queen  was  enough  to  make  the  whole  land  thor- 
oughly Protestant.  The  revolution  broke  out  with 
great  violence,  and  Mary  fled  to  England.  She  had 
been  invited  by  Elizabeth,  and  when  the  invitation  was 
accepted,  Elizabeth  showed  her  hospitality  by  throw- 
ing her  into  prison.  Mary  hoped  that,  Elizabeth  hav- 
ing once  been  declared  illegitimate,  she  might  lead 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  country  to  revolt  against 
Elizabeth's  rule,  and  herself  become  queen  of  England. 
But  Elizabeth  was  too  shrewd  to  allow  such  a  plan  to 
succeed.  Mary  was  tried,  and  put  to  death  in  1587, 
and  Elizabeth  became  practically  queen  of  both  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.      Mary's  revenge  came,  however, 

6 


82  SHORT  HISTORY  of  the  reformation. 

after  her  death,  wlien  her  Bon  succeeded  Elizabeth,  as 
James  VI.  of  Scotland  and  James  I.  of  England. 

3.  John  Knox.  —  This  man  was  Hamilton's  natural 
successor.  He  began  just  where  his  predecessor  had 
left  off,  and  very  soon  the  Scotch  Protestants  felt  the 
power  of  his  genius.  He  was  born  in  1505,  and  in 
1542  publicly  proclaimed  himself  in  Edinburgh  as  a 
Reformer.  His  studies  had  been  leading  him  thither 
for  some  time,  but  from  the  moment  of  his  public  re- 
nunciation of  Romanism  he  never  wavered.  His  hero- 
ism was  as  intense  as  that  of  Luther.  He  felt,  and 
therefore  he  spoke.  He  Avas  degraded  from  his  office 
as  preacher  in  St.  Andrews,  and  sent  to  France,  where 
he  was  subjected  nearly  two  years  to  hard  labor  in  the 
galleys.  As  soon  as  he  was  released  he  promptly  re- 
turned to  Scotland,  and  preached  the  doctrines  of 
the  Reformation  with  great  eloquence.  When  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  ascended  the  throne,  he  fled  to  Ger- 
many, where  he  established  himself  in  Frankfort-on-the 
Main,  as  one  of  the  three  hundred  Protestant  exiles.  He 
became  pastor  of  the  little  colony  of  English  refugees. 
From  there  he  Vv'^ent  to  Geneva,  where  he  imbibed  from 
Calvin  himself  the  Calvinistic  tyj^e  of  Protestantism. 
He  was  burnt  in  effigy  in  Scotland  by  Mary's  order — 
a  very  harmless  proceeding  on  her  part.  In  1558  he 
published  his  *' First  Blast  of  the  Trumpet  Against  the 
Monstrous  Regiment  of  AYomen."  The  Protestants 
formed  an  organized  body,  and  bound  themselves  to 
resistance  by  a  covenant.  The  country  became  in- 
volved in  civil  war,  and  when  peace  was  restored 
Queen  Mary  had  six  interviews  with  him,  and,  though 
moved  to  tears  by  his  eloquence,  afterwards  caused  his 
arrest  on  the  charge  of  treason.  But  the  court  acquit- 
ted him.     He  was  fearless  in  all  his  work.     His  life 


THE  SCOTCH  refoematiox.  83 

was  in  constant  clanger,  but  be  at  no  time  besitated 
to  preacb  and  teacb  tbe  Protestant  doctrines.  He  died 
in  Edinbnrgb  in  1572.  By  tbe  time  of  bis  deatb  tbe 
trimnpb  of  tbe  Scotcb  Reformation  was  complete.  It 
was  tbe  victory  of  tbe  people,  under  tbe  leadersbip 
of  a  brave  and  true  man,  against  tbe  combined  forces 
of  a  queen,  a  court,  and  a  powerful  nobility.  Tbe 
Scotcb  Reformers  did  tbeir  work  so  tborougbly  tbat 
it  was  never  necessary  to  do  it  over  again.  They  bad 
written  tbeir  protest  witb  tbeir  own  blood,  and  it  stands 
to  tbis  day. 


Chapter   XII. 
the  eeformation  ix  the  netherlands. 

1.  The  Union  of  the  Netherlands  under  the  Spanish 
crown  was  a  firm  bond  with  the  old  order  of  monarch- 
ical and  hierarchical  despotism.  Charles  V.,  King  of 
Spain  and  Emperor  of  Germany,  received  the  country 
as  an  inheritance  from  his  grandmother,  Maria  of  Bur- 
gundy. The  Dutch  had  always  been  distinguished 
for  their  love  of  freedom,  and,  even  as  far  back  as  the 
Roman  period,  Julius  Ca?sar  was  compelled  to  annex 
Batavia  to  his  dominions,  less  as  a  conquered  than  as 
an  affiliated  province.  The  same  love  of  independence 
still  prevailed  through  all  the  mediaeval  period,  and 
expressed  itself  in  both  civil  and  religious  life.  The 
Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  a  society  which  was 
founded  in  1384,  made  it  their  chief  aim  to  improve 
the  morals  of  the  people,  and  looked  intently  upon  a 
thorough  reform.  Gerhard  Groot  and  Florentius  Ra- 
dewin  represented  the  order,  and  the  Brothers'  House, 
in  Deventer,  was  a  centre  for  both  laymen  and  preach- 
ers to  teach  and  preach,  and  send  their  evangelists 
through  the  country.  In  the  two  schools  of  Deventer 
and  Ilerzogenbusch  alone  there  were,  at  one  time,  as 
many  as  twelve  hundred  students  in  attendance.  AVhen 
the  news  of  the  Wittenberg  revolt  from  Romanism 
came,  the  whole  country  was  eager  for  co-operation. 
In  fact,  in  no  land  was  there  such  a  complete  and  pop- 
ular preparation  for  the  Reformation  as  in  the  Nether- 


IN   THE    NETHERLANDS.  85 

lands.  Luther's  writings  were  caught  up  with  avidity, 
while  his  hymns  were  sung  with  fervor  along  the 
Dutch  dikes,  in  the  boats,  and  in  the  cottages  of  the 
whole  country.  The  Reformation  assumed  a  political 
character.  The  people  were  prohibited  from  adopting 
Protestantism,  and  were  slaughtered  for  disobedience. 
Charles  V.'s  measures  were  cruel  and  unremitting — a 
course  which  he  continued  until  his  abdication.  Even 
among  the  last  words  spoken,  in  the  far-off  Spanish 
monastery  of  Yuste,  to  his  son,  Philip  II.,  he  urged 
no  leniency  to  his  heretical  subjects.  So  violent  was 
the  opposition  to  Protestantism  that  the  people  were 
driven  to  revolution,  and  the  Spanish  army  marched 
thither,  under  the  cruel  Duke  of  Alva,  to  conquer  the 
people  into  submission. 

2.  The  Edict  of  Worms,  the  cruel  order  against  all 
sympathy  with  the  Protestant  cause,  was  made  bind- 
ing upon  the  Netherlands.  The  Inquisition  was  estab- 
lished, and  the  fires  of  martyrdom  blazed  all  over  the 
land.  To  be  known  as  a  Protestant  was  certain  death. 
Not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  j^eople  are  com- 
puted to  have  been  put  to  death  for  professing  the 
new  doctrines.  After  Charles  V.  abdicated,  and  Philip 
II.,  his  son,  succeeded  him,  there  was  even  greater 
cruelty.  After  1555  not  a  vestige  of  civil  or  religious 
liberty  remained  in  the  country.  The  Protestant  no- 
bility formed  themselves  into  the  Beggars'  League, 
otherwise  called  the  Compromise,  by  which  they  made 
it  their  object  to  overthrow  the  Spanish  authority  and 
establish  Protestantism  and  national  independence. 
They  were  derisively  called  ''  Beggars  "  by  their  op- 
pressors. They  adopted  the  term  for  their  entire 
league,  wore  plain  clothes,  made  of  the  coarsest  cloth, 
and  carried  a  wooden  bowl,  hung  to  a  wooden  chain,  as 


86  SHORT    IllSTOKY   OF    THE    REFORMATIOX. 

an  emblem  of  their  simplicity,  and  of  tlieir  readiness  to 
be  called  poor,  for  conscience'  sake.  The  Duke  of  Alva, 
at  the  head  of  the  Spanish  army,  succeeded  in  conquer- 
ing the  Beggars.  But  the  peace  was  of  only  short 
duration.  The  seven  northern  provinces  united  in  a 
league,  the  Utrecht  Union  (1579),  and  in  due  time 
conquered  the  Spanish  army.  William  of  Orange 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  movement  for  national  inde- 
pendence, and  he  was  succeeded,  in  1584,  by  his  son 
Maurice,  who  completed  the  work  begun  by  his  father. 
3.  Erasmus,  of  Rotterdam,  belongs  in  the  front  rank 
of  Reformers.  He  was  the  one  cosmopolitan  character 
of  the  times,  and  was  Holland's  greatest  gift  to  the  ec- 
clesiastical scholarship  of  Europe.  He  did  more  than 
any  man  of  the  period  of  the  Reformation  to  dissemi- 
nate a  knowledge  of  the  IN'ew  Testament.  His  pen 
touched  all  the  lands  which  showed  signs  of  awaking 
to  the  new  life,  for  it  was  he  who  handed  over  to  the 
Protestant  cause  the  best  and  purest  philological  learn- 
ing awakened  by  the  Humanists.  He  was  born  in  1467, 
and  died  in  1536.  After  a  thorough  training  in  Ox- 
ford University,  whither  he  went  through  the  influence 
of  Lord  Montjoy,  he  began  to  teach  privately.  Here 
began  his  attachment  with  Sir  Thomas  More,  which 
was  only  interrupted  by  the  latter's  death.  Erasmus 
went  to  Italy  for  further  studies,  and  took  his  doctor's 
degree  in  Turin.  He  stayed  for  a  time  in  Bologna  and 
Venice,  at  which  latter  place  he  published  his  first 
books.  Henry  VIH.  invited  him  to  England,  and  while 
on  his  way  thither  he  wrote  his  "  Praise  of  Folly,"  the 
most  satirical  work  of  the  times.  In  this  he  makes 
Folly  speak  her  o^^^l  mind,  and  boast  of  her  silliness. 
The  work  is  a  picture  of  priestly  superstition,  igno- 
rance, and  corruption. 


IN    THE    NETHEKLANDS.  87 

4.  Erasmus  in  Basel. — Erasmus  returned  to  the  Conti- 
nent, and  dwelt  a  long  time  in  Basel,  where  he  enjoyed 
the  friendship  of  (Ecolampadius  and  Beer,  then  prom- 
inent Reformers.  He  divided  his  time  chiefly  between 
Basel  and  England,  all  the  ^vhile  writing  w^th  great 
industry,  and  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  Kew  Tes- 
tament. His  chief  w^orks  were  his  "Colloquies,"  his 
edition  of  the  Greek  Testament,  his  Paraphrase  on  the 
same,  and  his  "  Praise  of  Folly."  He  was  a  profound 
and  versatile  scholar,  and  it  was  alone  as  such  that  he 
was  important  as  a  Reformer.  He  was  always  hesitant 
about  withdrawing  from  Rome,  allowed  himself  to  come 
into  opposition  to  Luther,  and  had  no  clear  conception 
of  that  firm  and  strong  theological  basis  which  under- 
lay the  Protestant  structure.  He  placed  much  faith  in 
a  comj^romise,  and  had  not  that  clear  vision  to  see  that 
such  a  course  was  an  impossibility  in  a  grave  crisis  of 
principle. 

5.  Erasmus  and  Luther. — One  of  the  most  unpleasant 
chapters  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation,  abundant 
as  it  is  in  beautiful  and  lasting  friendships,  is  the  un- 
fraternal  relationship  between  Erasmus  and  Luther. 
There  was  a  time  of  cordiality,  but  this  gave  place  to 
coldness,  and  even  to  bitterness.  Erasmus  always  held 
that  Luther's  course  was  right,  only  that  he  was  too 
vehement.  Doctrinally,  they  differed  on  the  freedom 
of  the  will,  Luther  taking  the  Augustinian  view  in  al- 
most its  full  force.  Besides,  Erasmus  hesitated  to 
break  openly  with  Rome,  and  so  the  distance  between 
them  widened.  Luther  wrote  the  following  of  Eras- 
mus, a  proof  of  how  unable  men  of  genius  often  are  to 
appreciate  each  other:  "I  have  cracked  many  hollow 
nuts,  which  I  thought  had  been  good,  but  they  fouled 
my  mouth  and  filled  it  with  dust:  Erasmus  and  Carl- 


88  SHOET    HISTORY    OF    THE    KEFORMATION. 

stadt  are  hollow  nuts.  Erasmus  is  a  mere  Momus,  mak- 
ing his  mows  and  mocks  at  everything  and  everybody, 
at  Papist  and  Protestant,  but  all  the  while  using  such 
shuffling  and  double-meaning  terms  that  no  one  can 
lay  hold  of  him  to  any  effectual  purpose.  His  chief 
doctrine  is.  Hang  the  cloak  according  to  the  wind.  He 
only  looked  to  himself,  to  have  good  and  easy  days, 
and  so  died  like  an  Epicurean,  without  any  one  comfort 
of  God.  I  hold  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  to  be  Christ's 
most  bitter  enemy.  I  leave  this  as  my  will  and  testa- 
ment." This  was  harsh  language,  unjust  towards  Eras- 
mus, and  not  at  all  in  harmony  with  Luther's  gener- 
ous nature. 


Chapter  XIII. 

THE    REFOEMATIOX    IN    FRANCE. 

1.  The  Outlook  for  Protestantism  in  France  was  very 
favorable  at  the  beginning.  The  conditions  were  such 
that  no  violent  opposition  could  be  expected,  especially 
along  the  Seine  and  in  the  southern  provinces.  The 
seventy  years'  residence  of  the  popes  in  Avignon  had 
inflamed  the  people  with  a  desire  for  a  national  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  a  corresponding  hostility  to  Rome. 
The  "Galilean,"  as  against  the  "Pa^^al"  Church,  had 
long  been  a  hope  of  French  kings  and  people.  There 
was  abroad  a  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing 
order,  and  an  ardent  craving  for  religious  liberty  and 
freedom  from  the  despotism  of  provincial  princes. 
There  were  six  principal  causes  which  led  to  this  desire 
for  Reformation  :  the  remaining  influence  of  the  early 
Paris  Reformers,  which  was  still  powerful  in  private 
circles  ;  the  religious  fervor  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Cevennes  mountains,  in  the  south ;  the  example  of  the 
heroic  Waldenses  in  the  Vaudois  Alps ;  the  example 
and  force  of  the  Genevan  Reformers,  with  Calvin  at 
their  head ;  the  great  work  of  the  German  Reformers, 
v\^ith  Wittenberg  as  their  centre  of  life  and  force  ;  and 
the  literary  spirit,  or  free  tendency  towards  inquiry, 
which  radiated  from  the  university  into  every  jDart  of 
the  kingdom. 

2.  The  Dread  of  the  German  Reformation.  Nothing 
was  more  dreaded  by  the  Romanism  of  France  than 


90  SIJOET    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFOKMATIOX. 

the  work  which  was  done  by  the  German  Reformers. 
The  books  of  Luther  found  their  way  into  France,  and 
Avere  translated  and  read  extensively.  By  an  order  of 
the  Sorbonne  they  were  publicly  burned,  in  the  year 
1521,  and  violent  threats  made  against  any  joerson  read- 
ing them.  Francis  L,  who  succeeded  to  the  French 
throne  in  1515,  was  a  mixed  character,  now  half  Prot- 
estant, and  again  thoroughly  Roman  Catholic.  In  1535 
he  was  lenient  enough  to  invite  Melanchthon  to  accept 
a  chair  in  the  University  of  Paris — a  bait  which  that 
calm  German  was  too  shrewd  to  accept,  gladly  reply- 
ing that  the  Elector  of  Saxony  refused  permission  to 
leave  Wittenberg.  It  will  add  emphasis  to  the  real 
meaning  of  this  generous  patronage  of  German  schol- 
arship when  we  remember  that,  in  that  very  year,  Fran- 
cis I.  burned  to  death  from  twenty  to  thirty  of  his  own 
subjects,  because  they  were  Huguenots. 

3.  The  Danger  of  French  Protestantism.  The  real 
danger  to  the  Protestants  came  from  a  firm  alliance  be- 
tween the  authorities  at  Rome  and  the  French  throne. 
Francis  I.,  whatever  pleasant  exterior  he  presented,  re- 
mained, at  heart,  a  bitter  advocate  of  oppressive  meas- 
ures against  Protestantism  in  his  own  dominions.  But 
the  Protestants,  who,  in  France,  were  called  Huguenots, 
proceeded  to  the  work  of  evangelization  and  organi- 
zation. In  1553  their  lirst  church  was  established 
and  recognized,  and  the  first  pastor  installed,  in  Paris. 
They  also  had  fifteen  other  societies  in  various  parts 
of  tlie  kingdom,  those  in  Meaux,  Angers,  and  Poictiers 
being  among  the  chief.  But  there  was  no  cohesion 
between  them.  They  were  simply  isolated  Christian 
bodies,  tired  of  Romish  supremacy,  and  in  thorough 
sympathy  with  the  great  I'rotestant  cause  in  other 
lands.     However,  the  scattered  Huguenots  soon  coa- 


IN   FRANCE.  91 

lesced,  and  in  1559  the  General  Synod  of  Paris  met, 
and  the  Gallic  Confession  was  adopted  as  the  creed  of 
French  Protestantism. 

4.  Opposition  to  the  Huguenots.  The  Huguenots  pos- 
sessed a  martial  spirit.  Many  of  them  had  a  military 
education,  and  their  fundamental  error  was  their 
hope  that,  by  political  and  martial  measures,  they 
might  succeed  in  the  end.  The  royal  family  was  di- 
vided between  Huguenots  and  Romanists.  The  Bour- 
bons were  with  the  Huguenots,  and  the  Guises  with 
the  Roman  Catholics.  The  subdued  opposition  camo 
to  violent  outbreak.  The  appeal  was  to  arms,  and,  in 
1561,  the  land  was  convulsed  by  a  civil  war,  which  last- 
ed thirty  years.  Three  wars  were  carried  on,  and  three 
times  a  peace  was  patched  up.  The  third  peace,  that 
of  St.  Germain,  in  1570,  guaranteed  liberty  of  doc- 
trine and  public  worship  to  the  Huguenots,  with  the 
exception  of  the  residence  of  the  court  and  the  city  of 
Paris.  Catharine  de  Medici  became  regent  in  1560, 
her  son,  Charles  IX.,  being  only  ten  years  old.  She 
professed  profound  sympathy  with  the  Huguenots,  but 
was  only  playing  a  shrewd  game  of  deception.  She 
was  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  deal  destruction  on 
every  side. 

6.  Rapid  Spread  of  the  Huguenots.  The  increase  of 
Protestantism  at  this  time  was  remarkably  rapid.  The 
Synod  of  1559  had  not  only  adopted  a  Confession, 
which  bore  every  mark  of  Calvin's  hand,  but  had  also 
thoroughly  organized  a  Protestant  Church,  with  a  pro- 
vision for  provincial  synods  throughout  the  kingdom, 
and  a  complete  system  of  Church  discipline  and  litur- 
gical order.  When  the  war  began,  in  1561,  there  were, 
according  to  Beza,  four  hundred  thousand  Huguenots 
throughout  France,  and  Conde's  list  of  their  churches, 


92  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

presented  as  an  exhibit  to  Catharine  de  Medici,  com- 
prised two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  names. 
They  were  distributed  chiefly  through  the  south  and 
west.  Normandy,  also,  possessed  many  of  their  soci- 
eties, but  in  the  north  the  Huguenots  were  less  repre- 
sented. 

6.  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  It  was  arranged  by 
Catharine  that  the  semblance  of  a  thorough  reconcili- 
ation between  the  Protestants  and  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics should  take  place.  Charles's  sister  was  to  marry 
Henry  of  Navarre,  the  leader  of  the  Huguenots.  Brill- 
iant festivities  were  arranged,  and  the  whole  land  was 
alive  with  new  joy  that,  at  last,  the  Huguenots  and 
Roman  Catholics  could  live  henceforth  in  peace,  and 
each  worship  with  equal  rights  before  the  law.  The 
marriage  was  celebrated  August  18,  1572,  but  on  the 
night  of  the  24th  a  bell  in  the  palace  belfry  gave  the 
signal  for  general  slaughter.  This  was  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  eve.  The  Huguenot  chiefs  were 
all  in  Paris,  and  their  whereabouts  was  known.  Ad- 
miral Coligny,  an  intrepid  warrior  and  firm  Huguenot, 
was  murdered  in  cold  blood,  and  cast  out  of  the  win- 
dow into  the  stone  court  below.  For  seven  days  and 
nights  the  streets  ran  with  Protestant  blood.  Out- 
side of  Paris  the  massacre  was  sudden  and  overwhelm- 
ing. The  Loire  and  the  Rhone  ran  red  and  thick  with 
the  blood  and  bodies  of  victims.  The  cities  of  Meaux, 
Orleans,  Bourges,  Lyons,  Rouen,  Toulouse,  and  Bor- 
deaux were  centres  of  the  persecution.  Not  less  than 
one  hundred  thousand  Huguenots  fell  beneath  flame 
and  sword.  The  pretext  for  the  universal  murder  was, 
that  Coligny  had  concerted  a  secret  conspiracy  against 
the  crown.  There  is  not,  and  never  was,  a  vestige 
of  authority  for  even  the  suspicion  of  such  a  thing. 


IX   FKANCE.  93 

At  Rome  there  was  great  rejoicing  over  the  blood- 
shed. Pope  Gregory  ordered  the  ringing  of  the  bells 
of  the  city,  and  a  special  medal  to  be  struck  in  honor 
of  his  triumph. 

7.  The  Huguenot  Uprising.  The  Huguenots  were  not 
willing,  even  yet,  to  surrender.  They  had  lost  immense 
numbers,  but  were  eager  to  renew  the  conflict.  The 
struggle  began  again,  and  in  1576  the  Peace  of  Beau- 
lieu  guaranteed  the  Huguenots  once  more  the  liberty  of 
worship  and  doctrine.  Henry  of  Navarre  ascended  the 
throne  in  1589,  as  Henry  IV.  He  renounced  his  Prot- 
estantism, as  the  jDrice  of  his  crown  ;  but,  by  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  in  1598,  he  gave  full  liberty  to  the  Hugue- 
nots to  worship  in  places  where  they  had  established 
services,  and  to  stand  equal  with  Roman  Catholics  be- 
fore the  law.  Protestants  now  increased  very  rapidly. 
Henry  IV.  granted  them  personal  safety  and  the  right 
of  worship  in  one  hundred  and  fifty  places  throughout 
the  kingdom,  the  chief  of  which  were  Bordeaux,  Poic- 
tiers,  and  Montpellier.  By  the  year  1628  they  possessed 
six  hundred  and  eighty-eight  churches,  and  by  1637 
these  had  grown  to  seven  hundred  and  twenty.  For 
nearly  a  century  they  enjoyed  comparative  peace,  and 
rapidly  multiplied  in  every  department  of  ecclesiastical 
prosperity.  When  Louis  XIV.  came  to  the  throne  he 
strongly  opposed  them.  No  wrong  was  spared  to  make 
France  an  unwelcome  home.  There  were  at  this  time 
about  two  million  Huguenots  throughout  the  country ; 
though,  at  one  time,  they  had  numbered  at  least  one 
third  the  entire  population  of  the  country.  In  the 
quarter  of  a  century  preceding  1685,  not  less  than  five 
hundred  and  twenty  of  their  churches  were  destroyed. 
They  were  permitted  to  leave  the  country,  and  the 
exile  began  in  1666.    It  continued  not  less  than  a  half- 


94  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

century,  during  which  time  a  low  estimate  of  the  num- 
ber of  Huguenots  who  forsook  France  places  it  at  one 
million.  But  still  many  remained,  and,  to  give  a  finish- 
ing stroke  to  them,  the  Edict  of  Xantes  was  revoked,  in 
the  year  1685.  This  act  destroyed  the  last  vestige  of  civil 
and  religious  rights  now  remaining  to  the  Huguenots. 
There  were  still  about  one  thousand  of  their  pastors, 
and  of  these  one  hundred  were  sent  to  the  galleys  or 
put  to  death,  six  hundred  fled  the  country,  and  the  oth- 
er three  hundred  disappeared  in  unaccountable  ways. 
For  a  century  Protestantism  was  almost  blotted  out  of 
the  country.  Only  at  the  close  of  the  18th  century 
was  there  a  comparative  revival  of  the  old  Protestant 
spirit. 


Chapter  XIV. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    ITALY. 

1.  The  Soil  Prepared  by  Savonarola.  —  The  Italians 
were  prepared  by  Savonarola  to  give  hearty  credence 
to  the  new  doctrines.  He  was  born  in  Ferrara  in  1452, 
and  was  executed  in  Florence  in  1498.  In  1484  he  be- 
gan to  preach  in  Brescia  on  the  book  of  Revelation. 
In  1489  he  removed  to  Florence,  and  became  a  monk 
in  the  convent  of  St.  Mark.  He  was  an  eloquent  pleader 
for  reformation  in  the  church,  and  showed  no  mercy 
in  declaring  against  the  corruptions  of  Rome.  His 
great  error  lay  in  having  interfered  Avith  the  politi- 
cal convulsions  of  Florence.  Not  for  his  bold  protest 
against  immorality  alone  was  he  compelled  to  suffer ; 
he  became  an  object  of  political  hostility  on  the  part 
of  Lorenzo  and  Pietro,  of  the  Medici  family,  who  had 
stood  in  charge  of  the  Republic  of  Florence.  Savon- 
arola was  at  the  head  of  a  revolution  against  them. 
The  people  of  Florence,  who  were  witnesses  of  his 
pure  and  sacrificing  life,  believed  in  him  fully,  and 
supported  him  by  their  sympathy.  Pietro  de  Medici, 
unable  to  resist  Savonarola  alone,  called  to  his  aid  the 
pope,  Alexander  VI.,  who  was  already  eager  to  sup- 
press the  Florentine  monk.  The  brave  Reformer  fell 
beneath  the  power  of  Rome.  Savonarola  had  wrought 
alone.  He  held  a  free  lance,  and  the  power  of  his 
speech  and  the  heroism  of  his  life  long  survived  his 


9G  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

death.     For  the  moral  greatness  of  the  man  there  was 
not,  and  could  not  be,  a  martyrdom. 

2.  Protestant  Books  from  the  North. — Venice  was  at 
this  very  time  in  the  throes  of  the  religions  revolution. 
The  works  of  Luther  and  his  coadjutors  were  not  only 
circulated,  but  even  printed,  along  the  Grand  Canal. 
Some  little  skill  was  needful  to  escape  papal  interdic- 
tion. For  example,  the  *'  Loci  Theologici "  of  Melanch- 
thon — the  Greek  term  into  which  he  translated  his  name, 
after  the  usage  of  scholars,  from  his  German  name  of 
Schwarzerd,  or  Black  Earth — was  translated  into  Ital- 
ian, and  published  under  the  almost  undistinguishable, 
but  accurately  Italianized,  name  of  "  I  Principii  della 
Theologia  di  Ippofilo  de  Terra  Nigra."  This  work 
reached  Rome,  and  was  sold  and  read  for  a  whole  year 
with  enthusiasm.  When  the  copies  were  exhausted 
an  order  was  sent  to  Venice  for  a  new  supply.  A 
Franciscan  friar  discovered  the  identity  of  the  author 
with  the  German  IMelanchthon,  and  exposed  it.  Of 
course,  Rome  was  not  long  in  seeing  the  heresy,  and 
ordering  the  burning  of  the  dangerous  book.  Char- 
don  de  la  Rochette  wrote :  "  My  hostess,  the  good 
mother  Coleti,  says  her  prayers  every  day  before  a 
beautiful  miniature,  which  represents  Luther  on  one 
side  and  Melanchthon  on  the  other."  Zwingli's  works 
were  circulated  under  the  name  of  "  Coricius  Cogelius," 
and  Bucer's  "  Psalms  "  went  abroad  in  Italy  and  France 
as  the  commentary  of  "  Aretius  Felinus."  Melanchthon 
was  not  astray  Avhen  he  wrote  to  George,  Prince  of 
Anhalt,  "  What  libraries  have  been  carried  from  the 
late  fair  into  Italy,  though  the  pope  has  published  fresh 
edicts  against  us!" 

3.  The  War  Between  the  German  Empire  and  Italy 
broke  out  in  152G,  and  in  1527  the  imperial  army  sacked 


IN   ITALY.  97 

Rome  itself,  and  for  a  long  time  occupied  Naples.  With 
this  array  there  was  a  large  number  of  Protestants. 
They  carried  the  reform  south  of  the  Alps,  and  the 
contagion  spread  among  the  Italian  peoples.  We  have 
positive  proof  that  Melanchthon  corresponded  with  the 
Venetian  Reformers  in  1529,  and  that  Modena  was  a 
Lutheran  city. 

4.  The  Sceptical  Humanism.  —  Italy  was  the  native 
country  of  Humanism.  But  the  new  scholarship  was 
so  negative,  and  manifested  itself  in  the  cultivated  cir- 
cles by  such  positive  indifference  towards  all  religious 
life,  that  the  land,  though  rising  in  intelligence,  drifted 
far  from  the  Gospel.  The  poems  of  Portano,  Sanazzaro 
and  Marcellus  were  nothing  but  fulsome  praises  of  the 
gods  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The  clergy  introduced  the 
whole  dead  mythology  of  the  pagan  times  into  their 
sermons,  and  drew  parallels  between  Jupiter  Maximus 
and  God  the  Father,  Apollo  and  Jesus,  and  Diana  and 
the  Virgin  Mary.  The  people  were  left  in  profound 
ignorance.     Dante  said  of  the  preachers  of  his  day  : 

"  E'en  they  whose  office  is 
To  preach  the  gospel,  let  the  gospel  sleep, 
And  pass  their  own  inventions  off  instead." 

In  another  place  he  became  still  more  bold  : 

"  The  preacher  now  provides  himself  with  store 
Of  jests  and  gibes ;  and,  so  there  be  no  lack 
Of  laughter,  while  he  vents  them,  his  big  cowl 
Distends,  and  he  has  won  the  meed  he  sought. 
Could  but  the  vulgar  catch  a  glimpse  the  while, 
Of  that  dark  bird  which  nestles  in  his  hood, 
They  scarce  could  wait  to  hear  the  blessing  said, 
Which  word  the  dotards  hold  in  such  esteem." 

Of  the  moral  condition  of  Rome,  Petrarch  ex- 
claimed : 


98  SHORT    HISTORY    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

"  Foul  nest  of  treason !     Is  there  aught 
Wherewith  the  spacious  world  is  fraught 

Of  bad  or  vile — 'tis  hatched  in  thee  ; 
Who  revellest  in  thy  -costly  meats, 
Thy  precious  wines  and  curious  seats, 
And  all  the  fruits  of  luxury." 

6.  Spread  of  Protestant  Doctrines. — The  Protestanft 
doctrines  spre;id  rapidly  through  every  part  of  Italy. 
In  the  extreme  south,  or  Calabria,  where  the  descend- 
ants of  some  Waldensian  emigrants  lived,  the  sympathy 
with  the  new  doctrines  was  j^rompt  and  strong.  In  the 
north  every  important  town  numbered  among  its  people 
some  disciples  of  the  German  Reformers.  Ferrara,  Mo- 
dena,  Florence,  Bologna,  Padua,Verona,  Brescia,  Milan, 
Lucca,  and  Venice  had  large  numbers  of  devoted  Re- 
formers, who  v\^ere  reading,  praying,  and  consulting,  hop- 
ing that  the  same  good  i:)rovidence  Avhich  had  favored 
their  spiritual  fathers  in  Germany  would  bless  their 
country.  Lucca  had,  perhaps,  more  adherents  to  the 
Reform  than  any  other  city.  But  Venice  excelled  all 
others  in  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures.  To  Flor- 
ence belonged  the  great  honor  of  having  three  of  its 
sons — Brucioli,Marmochini,  and  Teofilo — prepare,  each, 
an  Italian  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  The  version  of 
Brucioli  became  the  favorite.  Among  the  firmest  Re- 
formers were  Ochino,  Peter  Martyr,  Paleario,  Paschali, 
and  Vergerio.  None  were  more  fully  the  objects  of 
suspicion  than  the  two  former,  both  of  Avhom  suc- 
ceeded in  leaving  the  country  before  the  officers  could 
arrest  them. 

6.  Woman's  Work.  —  In  no  country  of  Kur<>])e  were 
women  so  prominent  in  the  advocacy  of  the  Reforma- 
tion as  in  Italy.  There  was  one  court,  Ferrara,  where 
the  duchess  Renata  was  a  firm  adherent,  and  her  court 


IN    ITALY.  99 

was,  in  a  quiet  way,  a  rallying-place  for  all  Protestants. 
Calvin  visited  her  once,  and  afterwards  kept  up  a  cor- 
respondence, until  the  poor  woman  fell  a  victim  to  her 
loyalty  to  Protestantism.  Other  women  were  none 
the  less  true,  and,  either  socially  or  by  their  writings, 
did  all  in  their  power  to  advance  the  new  measures. 
Olympia  Morata,  Isabella  Mauricha,  Lavinia  della  Re- 
vere, Madonna  Maddelena  and  Madonna  Cherbina  (both 
of  the  Orsini  family),  the  learned  duchess  Julia  Gon- 
zago,  and  the  brilliant  Vittoria  Colonna,  were  repre- 
sentatives of  a  large  class  of  noble  and  heroic  women, 
who  were  among  the  first  to  welcome  the  doctrines 
from  the  north,  and  also  among  the  first  to  suffer  for 
their  devotion  to  them. 

7.  Oppression  of  Protestantism.  —  The  cause  of  the 
Reformation  advanced  just  far  enough  to  be  recog- 
nized as  an  opposing  and  dangerous  religious  factor, 
when  the  orders  v/ent  out  from  Rome  for  its  forcible 
suppression.  There  was  nowhere  sufticient  momentum 
to  the  new  cause  to  organize  a  church  or  establish  a 
formulary  of  doctrine.  But  there  were  indications 
enough  to  begin  the  work  of  resistance.  In  1542  the 
Inquisition,  which  was  already  in  operaton  in  Spain,  was 
ordered  to  begin  in  Italy.  Caraffa  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  work,  and  a  more  competent  man  could  not  be 
found.  In  every  city  where  Protestants  could  be  found 
they  were  publicly  executed,  and  without  delay.  An- 
tonio Paleario,  the  author  of  a  powerful  treatise,  "  The 
Benefit  of  Christ,"  v/as  burned.  Paschali  suffered  a 
like  fate.  As  a  result,  by  the  end  of  the  century  near- 
ly every  trace  of  Protestantism  was  suppressed. 

8.  The  Council  of  Trent— The  Council  of  Trent  was 
the  papal  method  of  dealing  with  Protestantism  out- 
side of  Italy.     It  was  a  recognition  by  Rome  of  the 


100  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

necessity  of  adopting  a  new  course  to  arrest  reform. 
It  convened  in  December,  1545,  and  adjourned  in  1547. 
One  of  its  first  acts  was  to  revoke  the  old  method  of 
the  rule  of  the  majority,  and  to  order  that  the  pope's 
consent  was  necessary  to  every  decree.  Reforms  in  a 
small  way  were  ordered.  The  two  principal  reforma- 
tory measures  were,  that  better  teachers  and  preachers 
should  be  provided  by  the  bishops,  and  that  bishops 
should  be  punished  for  neglect  of  their  duties.  But, 
with  these  concessions,  the  work  of  reform  ended.  The 
general  spirit  of  the  council  was  relentless  in  its  oppo- 
sition to  Protestantism. 

9.  Italian  Protestants  in  Exile.  —  Many  Italians  es- 
caped death.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  detecting  them, 
so  soon  as  they  reached  the  Alps  they  were  generally 
safe  from  arrest.  Italy  was  a  confederation  of  little 
duchies  and  republics,  which  we-i-e  often  at  war  with 
each  other,  and  this  want  of  civil  connection  favored 
their  escape.  The  larger  Swiss  towns  and  cities  had 
little  groups  of  fugitive  Italian  Protestants,  who  re- 
ceived a  cordial  welcome,  and  to  whom  avenues  of 
trade  and  industry  were  opened.  The  canton  of  the 
Orisons,  in  the  Eastern  Alps,  was  almost  populated  by 
them.  Its  population  consisted  of  three  folk-stems,  the 
old  Rhetian,  the  Italian,  and  the  German,  and  when  the 
Protestants  from  the  south  took  their  place  among  them, 
they  gave  their  impress  to  the  faith  and  language  of  the 
whole  people.  A  body  of  exiles  from  Locarno  settled  in 
Zurich,  and  established  a  Protestant  service  and  or- 
ganization there.  Peter  Martyr  accepted  an  invitation 
of  Cranmer  to  go  to  England,  and  became  a  professor 
in  Oxford.  Ochino  also  went  to  England,  and  preached 
in  London.  Exiles  from  Italy,  likewise,  amoug  whom 
may  bo  named  Paolo  di  Colli,  Grataroli,  Oorrado,  Te- 


IN   ITALY.  101 

glio,  Betti,  Celso,  and  Curio,  went  to  Basel,  and  settled 
there.  All  these  men  were  talented,  some  being  au- 
thors, who  had  made  themselves  objects  of  suspicion 
at  home  because  of  their  heroic  devotion,  by  pen  and 
speech,  to  the  new  Protestantism. 


Chapter   XV. 

THE    EEFORilATIOX   IN    SPAIN    AND    PORTUGAL. 

1.  Religious  Despotism  in  Spain. — No  country  in  Eu- 
rope was  under  a  more  complete  despotism  than  Spain. 
It  was  too  far  removed  from  the  life  and  heart  of  Eu- 
rope to  respond  aggressively  to  any  profound  move- 
ment elsewhere.  The  Church  and  the  State  were  at- 
tached together  as  by  hooks  of  steel.  Charles  V.,  and, 
later,  his  son,  Philip  II.,  ruled  in  harmony  with  the 
spirit  of  mediaeval  oppression  and  superstition.  There 
was  no  need  of  counsel  from  the  pope,  for  they  carried 
out  every  extreme  measure  which  could  be  acceptable 
to  Rome.  The  completeness  of  the  hierarchical  rule  in 
Spain  can  be  seen  from  the  statistics  of  the  clergy  and 
minor  priesthood  of  this  time.  There  Avere  58  arch- 
bishoprics, 684  bishoprics,  11,400  monasteries,  23,000 
brotherhoods,  46,000  monks,  13,800  nuns,  312  secular 
priests,  and  over  400,000  ecclesiastics  of  other  grades. 
With  such  a  machinery  as  this,  it  can  easily  be  imag- 
ined that  to  introduce  Protestant  ideas  was  no  easy 
task.  Still,  in  spite  of  the  distance  of  Spain  from  the 
general  intellectual  activity  of  Europe,  so  powerful  was 
the  Protestant  movement  in  the  north  and  east  that  a 
sympathy  with  it  was  awakened  even  among  the  peo- 
ple of  the  S]);inish  ])eiiinsula. 

2.  Spanish  Mysticism,  a  peculiar  phenomenon,  indic- 
ative of  coming  religious  life,  had  already  permeated 


THE    EEFORMATION    IN   SPAIX    AND    PORTUGAL.      103 

many  classes.  The  new  prosperity  that  came  from 
discoveries  in  America  created  an  intellectual  activity 
which  took  note  of  every  new  movement  in  other 
countries  of  Europe.  The  writings  of  Erasmus,  and 
even  of  Luther,  found  their  way  south  of  the  Pyre- 
nees, and  were  read  in  secret  by  many  persons  of  the 
more  cultivated  classes.  A  taste  for  them  had  been 
awakened  by  the  Mysticism,  which  was  a  popular  aspi- 
ration for  purer  morals  and  ecclesiastical  government. 
The  officers  of  Charles  V.,  and  other  members  of  his 
military  court,  came  in  contact  with  Luther's  doctrines 
while  in  the  German  wars,  and  Avhen  they  returned 
they  brought  this  new  attachment  with  them.  As 
representatives  of  this  class  may  be  mentioned  Alphon- 
so  de  Vives  and  Ponce  de  la  Fuente.  Translations  of 
the  Bible  into  Spanish  were  a  powerful  auxiliary. 
Franz  Enzinas,  of  Burgos,  issued  the  first  Spanish  Bi- 
ble in  Antwerp,  in  1543.  Knowing  that  his  emperor, 
Charles  V.,  was  a  patron  of  learning — some  kinds — he 
had  the  simplicity  to  dedicate  his  version  to  that  ruler. 
His  reward  was  a  confinement  of  fourteen  months  in 
a  Brussels  prison,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  printed 
in  capital  letters  the  passage,  "  Where  is  boasting  then? 
It  is  excluded.  By  what  law?  Of  works?  Nay,  but 
by  the  law  of  faith"  (Romans,  iii.  21). 

3.  Spread  of  the  Reformation. — Entire  cloisters,  such 
as  San  Lsidoro  del  Campo,  threw  off  the  authority  of 
Rome,  and  adopted  the  Protestant  doctrines.  Valla- 
dolid,  Seville,  and  Medina  del  Campo  became  centres 
for  the  distribution  of  Protestant  writings.  Rodrigo 
de  Varelo,  Juan  iEgidius,  Augustine  Cazalla,  and  Diaz 
Vv^ere  representatives  of  the  new  measures.  Small  so- 
cieties were  organized  in  many  places,  and  public  wor- 
ship was  held. 


104  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

4.  Suppression  by  the  Inquisition.  —  Just  as  soon  as 
the  Spanish  people  expressed  sympathy  with  the  Refor- 
mation in  an  organized  and  public  way,  violent  means 
were  employed  to  arrest  the  work.  The  Inquisition  was 
ordered  from  Rome.  Fernando  Valdez  was  appointed 
Grand  Inquisitor.  He  was  the  very  man  for  the  work, 
having  an  indomitable  will,  blind  zeal  for  Roman  Ca- 
tholicism, and  intense  hostility  towards  the  cause  of  re- 
form. Autos-da-Fe  (Acts  of  Faith),  or  public  burnings 
of  heretics,  were  kindled  in  twelve  cities.  All  specta- 
tors of  these  scenes  were  granted  plenary  indulgences. 
The  first  prominent  martyr  was  Carlos  de  Seso.  Then 
came  Domingo  de  Roxas,  Garcia  de  Arrias,  Montanos, 
and  Hernandez,  as  leaders  of  a  great  host  of  victims. 
Even  women  were  not  spared,  whether  from  the  nobility 
or  lower  classes.  Maria  Gomez,  Maria  de  Boborguez, 
and  Eleonora  de  Cisneros  were  noble  representatives 
of  their  sex  in  joyful  readiness  to  endure  martyrdom 
for  their  faith.  Protestant  Englishmen,  temporarily 
in  Spain,  were  likewise  executed  when  known  to  be  in 
sympathy  with  Protestantism. 

6.  Portugal  was  much  less  affected  by  the  reforma- 
tory movement  than  Spain.  Still,  there  were  indica- 
tions enough  to  excite  alarm.  Diego  de  Silva  was 
appointed  Grand  Inquisitor.  He  performed  his  work 
thoroughly,  and  soon  all  Protestant  traces  were  de- 
stroyed. 

6.  The  Causes  of  Failure  in  the  whole  Spanish  penin- 
sula are  not  difficult  to  find.  Protestantism  was  largely 
a  measure  of  scholars  and  thinkers.  No  Spanish  Prot- 
estant was  gifted  with  popular  powers.  There  was  not 
a  strong  preacher  or  powerful  speaker  among  them. 
Thoy  were  men  of  the  study,  quiet  authors,  who  thought 
that  thoy  could  win  by  the  pen  alone.     They  wrote  in 


IN    SPAIN    AND   PORTUGAL.  105 

the  language  of  the  learned,  and  their  writings  never 
pervaded  the  masses.  In  Spain  there  was  no  exception 
to  the  general  law,  that  no  reform  succeeds  which  is 
confined  to  the  educated  and  the  aristocracy.  The 
persistent  energy  of  the  Spanish  authorities,  reinforced 
from  Rome,  made  thorough  work  of  suppression.  The 
rights  of  conscience  and  intellectual  liberty  shared  a 
common  fate.  Even  all  lectures  on  morals  were  pro- 
hibited in  the  universities,  as  favoring,  by  implication, 
the  Protestant  cause. 


Chapter  XVI. 
the  keformatiox  ix  scandinavia. 

1.  The  Groundwork  of  Protestantism  in  tlie  three  Scan- 
dinavian countries — Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Norway — 
was  already  laid  in  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  people 
with  the  prevailing  order  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
government.  The  barons  and  priests  had  long  since 
united  in  popular  oppression.  The  masses  were  ground 
down,  and  centuries  had  passed  without  an  improvement 
in  their  condition.  When  the  people  learned  of  the  re- 
form in  Germany  they  hailed  it  as  a  blessing  to  them. 
Tliey  eagerly  listened  to  its  first  representatives  in 
their  own  country. 

2.  Olaf  and  Laurence  Petersen  were  the  first  native 
Swedish  Reformers.  They  w^ent  to  Wittenberg  as  stu- 
dents of  theology,  returned  to  Sweden,  and,  after  1519, 
were  devoted  preachers  of  the  new  doctrines.  But  many 
of  the  people  were  reluctant  to  give  up  their  old  faith, 
which,  indeed,  was  intermixed  with  traces  of  the  old 
Gothic  paganism.  The  king,  Gustavus  Vasa,  was  a 
firm  Protestant,  and  vwas  greatly  beloved  by  his  peo- 
ple, lie  told  them  that  unless  they  Avould  become 
Protestants  he  would  abdicate.  This  he  proposed  in 
public,  at  a  great  meeting  held  in  Upsala.  The  people 
then  declared  in  favor  of  Protestantism,  and,  at  the 
Diet  of  Orebro,  in  1529  and  1537,  and  of  Westeras,  in 
1527,  the  Protestant  doctrines  were  declared  to  be  the 
faith  of  the  kingdom.     The  Augsburg  Confession  was 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SCANDINAVIA.  107 

endorsed  in  1593,  and  the  Form  of  Concord  in  1663. 
Apostasy  to  Komanism  was  punished  with  banish- 
ment. 

3.  Protestantism  in  Denmark  and  Norway  was  intro- 
duced by  men  who  had  studied  in  Wittenberg,  and 
brought  back  with  them  the  new  doctrines.  Chris- 
tian II.,  King  of  Denmark,  publicly  adopted  them,  and 
took  measures  for  their  approval  by  the  whole  people. 
John  Tausen,  who  had  studied  under  Luther,  was  ap- 
pointed pastor  in  Copenhagen.  The  Roman  Catholic 
bishops  were  deposed,  and  the  property  of  the  monas- 
teries was  appropriated  to  the  national  treasury.  Prot- 
estantism was  publicly  adopted  in  Copenhagen  in  1536, 
a; id  the  Diet  of  Odensee,  in  1539,  completed  the  work. 
The  Reformation  was  introduced,  and  formally  adopt- 
ed, into  Norway,  in  1528.  Danish  missionaries  carried 
it  to  Iceland  in  1551,  where  an  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion, similar  to  that  of  Denmark,  Avas  adopted. 


Chapter  XVII. 

THE    REFORMATION    IX    THE    SLAVIC    LANDS. 

1.  The  Hussite  Preparation  was  a  powerful  aid  tow- 
ards introducing  the  new  measures.  John  Huss  was 
born  about  1373,  and  burned  at  Constance  in  1415. 
He  became  acquainted  with  Wycliffe's  writings  when 
at  Prague,  as  a  professor  of  theology  and  philosophy 
in  the  University,  through  students  who  had  brought 
them  from  England.  He  eagerly  adopted  them.  In 
1402  he  was  appointed  preacher  in  the  Bethlehem  chap- 
el, where  he  preached  in  the  Bohemian  language.  lie 
aftervv^ards  became  rector  of  the  University.  He  at- 
tacked all  the  chief  evils  of  the  Church  in  his  day,  and 
in  due  time  the  opposition  to  him  became  intense.  The 
King  of  Bohemia  took  his  part.  The  struggle  between 
the  pope  and  Huss  was  long  in  doubt,  the  people  being 
with  the  latter,  and  the  priesthood  Avith  the  former. 
Pope  John  XXIII.  summoned  a  general  council,  which 
met  in  Constance  in  1414.  Huss  was  ordered  thither, 
and  was  promised  personal  safety.  But  the  pledges 
were  violated,  and  in  June,  1415,  he  was  publicly 
burned,  and  his  ashes  cast  into  Lake  Constance.  But 
his  cause  did  not  die  with  him.  His  followers  lived  as 
a  political  and  ecclesiastical  party  in  the  retired  parts 
of  the  country.  They  withdrew  to  the  rugged  moun- 
tains of  Moravia,  and  lived  in  quiet.  The  Moravians 
who  afterwards  went  from  there,  and  settled  in  Ilerrn- 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    THE    SLAVIC    LANDS.        109 

hut,  in  Saxony,  and,  under  Zinzendorf,  became  known 
as  the  United  Brethren,  are  the  spiritual  descendants 
of  John  Huss. 

2.  The  Protestantism  of  Germany  had  warm  sympa- 
thizers in  every  part  of  Bohemia.  Preachers  went  back 
and  forth  between  Bohemia  and  AVittenberg,  and  Lu- 
ther was  in  frequent  consultation  with  them  as  to  the 
best  means  of  introducing  the  reform.  The  Calvinis- 
tic  theology,  together  with  that  of  Luther,  was  like- 
wise introduced.  So  successful  was  the  work,  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  country  became  Protestant.  The 
Jesuits,  however,  made  this  one  of  their  favorite  fields, 
and,  with  the  emperor  on  their  side,  gradually  gained 
the  upper  hand.  In  1627  Protestants  were  declared 
heretics,  and  had  to  choose  between  Romanism  and 
death.     A  universal  exile  was  the  result. 

3.  Poland.  Bohemian  Protestants  carried  the  doc- 
trines of  Protestantism  into  Poland,  at  this  time  a 
powerful  and  independent  kingdom.  The  crime  of  the 
partition  and  absorption  of  that  country  by  Prussia, 
Austria,  and  Russia  was  reserved  for  a  later  and  more  en- 
lightened century,  being  begun  in  1768,  and  completed 
in  1795.  Luther's  writings  were  introduced  with  great 
success,  but  opposed  by  the  king,  Sigismund  I.  His  suc- 
cessor, Sigismund  Augustus,  was  favorable  to  Protes- 
tantism, but  the  movement  was  weakened  by  a  strife 
between  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  confessions.  The 
Protestant  nobility  formed  a  league,  by  which  a  com- 
promise was  reached,  in  1573.  But  there  was  no  gen- 
eral prosperity  of  the  Protestants.  They  grew  in  Li- 
vonia, and  other  parts  of  the  Baltic  coast,  but  in  the 
interior  they  led  a  feeble  existence,  being  ground  be- 
neath the  schemes  of  Jesuits  and  the  political  revolu- 
tions that  came  from  the  efforts  of  Poland  to  preserve 


110  SHORT    inSTOEY    OF    THE    KEFOEMATIOX. 

her  independence.  The  work  of  Protestant  disinte- 
gration was  greatly  aided  by  a  colony  of  Italians,  who 
were  so  permeated  with  the  skeptical  Humanism  of 
their  country  that  they  were  illy  prepared  for  an  evan- 
gelien.l  Protestantism. 

4.  Hungary  and  Transylvania  were  early  fields  for 
the  Reformation.  Many  students  went  from  those  far- 
off  regions  to  Wittenberg,  and  carried  back  with  them  a 
warm  admiration  of  Luther  and  an  inborn  devotion  to 
his  cause.  Martin  Cyriaci  was  one  of  the  number,  and 
he  began  to  preach,  in  1524,  in  favor  of  the  reform. 
Matthias  Devay  translated  the  Bible  into  Hungarian, 
and  it  was  widely  circulated.  In  1545  the  Synod  of 
Erdod  formally  adopted  the  Augsburg  Confession  as  the 
theological  standard  of  the  country.  Much  of  the  favor 
which  was  shown  to  Protestantism  came  from  the  mer- 
chants who  had  attended  the  Leipzig  Fair  every  year 
since  Luther  had  begun  to  preach.  When  these  re- 
turned, they  not  only  brought  back  with  them  books 
in  favor  of  the  Reformation,  but  a  profound  sympathy 
with  the  doctrines.  Reformers  Avent  from  Basel,  which 
was  in  the  Protestant  .ferment,  and  did  much  to  aid  in 
the  good  work  of  propagation.  The  kings  Lewis  II., 
Ferdinand,  and  John  Zapoyla  opposed  the  reform, 
Avhile  Maximilian  I.  favored  it.  The  Peace  of  Vienna, 
however,  in  1606,  resulted  in  its  favor.  Both  the  Lu- 
theran and  Calvinist  types  of  theology  were  represent- 
ed. The  people  who  spoke  the  German  language,  and 
heard  of  the  Reformation  from  preachers  who  had  stud- 
ied in  Wittenberg,  adopted  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
while  those  who  were  under  the  teaching  of  Swiss 
preachers  adopted  the  Helvetic  Confession. 


Chapter  XVIIT. 
survey   of  results. 

1.  The  Fruits  of  the  Reformation  are  not  difficult  to 
find.  Hitherto  there  had  been  but  little  liberty  grant- 
ed the  common  people.  They  were  oppressed  both 
civilly  and  ecclesiastically,  and  all  the  political  convul- 
sions were  of  little  fruit  for  them.  The  Hanse  or 
Free  Cities  constituted  a  confederation  of  powerful 
centres,  extending  from  the  North  Sea  down  to  the 
Alps.  They  arose  as  a  reaction  against  despotic  meas- 
ures, but  no  sooner  did  they  gain  independence  than 
they  were  as  repressive  as  their  masters  had  been. 
The  effect  of  the  Reformation  was  to  elevate  the  peo- 
ple to  a  thirst  for  liberty  and  a  higher  and  purer  citi- 
zenship. Wherever  the  Protestant  cause  extended,  it 
made  the  masses  more  self-asserting.  Social  respect 
and  order  were  introduced,  and  subjected  to  firm  regu- 
lation. Nations  were  taught  a  higher  regard  for  each 
other's  rights,  and  kings  learned  that  their  subjects 
were  no  longer  mere  playthings  or  serfs.  In  some 
countries  the  aspiration  for  independence  took  organ- 
ized shape.  The  Reformation  became  the  mother  of 
republics.  The  Dutch  Republic  was  born  of  the  ef- 
forts of  the  Protestants  of  the  Netherlands  to  secure 
liberty  of  conscience.  No  thought  of  civil  indepen- 
dence animated  the  Dutch  at  the  outset.  They  simply 
fought  for  liberty  of  doctrine  and  worship.  But  once 
in  the  current,  they  were  carried  on.     They  builded 


112  SHOET  HISTORY    OF    THE    EEFOEMATION. 

more  wisely  than  they  knew,  and  so  founded  a  nation 
whose  commerce  covered  every  sea,  whose  discoveries 
reached  the  antipodes,  and  whose  universities  became 

the  pride  and  wonder  of  Europe.  '. 

2.  The  American  Union  owes  a  large  measure  of  its  ! 

genesis  to  the  European  struggle  for   reform.     The  | 
Germans  who  came  with  Penn  to  this  country  were 

strongly  attached  to  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  and  im-  ■ 

mediately  began  to  build  churches  and  establish  schools  ; 

in  that  interest.     The  Dutch  who  settled  in  New  York  | 

and  the  adjacent  country  brought  with  them  a  fervent  i 

love  of  Protestantism,  which  had  been  the  creative  ■ 

force  of  their  nation  at  home,  and  which  their  fathers  : 
had  bought  at  the  price  of  their  treasure  and  blood. 

The  Swedes  of  New  Jersey  and  Delaware  were  ani-  ', 

mated  with  the  same  attachment,  which  they  had  en-  • 

joyed  in  Scandinavia.    The  Huguenots,  who  came  here  I 
and  settled  in  many  places  along  the  coast,  from  Mas- 
sachusetts down  to  Georgia,  found  that  safe  asylum 

which  was  denied  them  at  home,  because  of  their  fidel-  ; 

ity  to  their  conscience.     The  Pilgrims  who  came  over  I 

in  the  3Iayfloii'er,  and  became  the  strongest  nucleus  in  I 

the  development  of  our  northern  colonies,  were  fugi-  ; 
tives  from  oppression  in  their  native  England.     All 

these  elements,  the  finest  wheat  from  the  trampled  < 
harvest-fields  of  Europe,  combined  on  these   shores, 

and  became  a  unit  in  this  western  planting  of  evan-  ' 
gelical    Christianity.     Yillers    says   with   truth,   after 

speaking  of  the  debt  which  the  United  States  owe  to  | 

the  Reformation:   *' Powerful  republics  are  based  on  j 

the  Reformation.     Republican  principles,  more  power-  j 

ful  than  weapons  of  steel,  have  been  introduced  among  | 

all  nations.     Great  revolutions   have  come   from  this  I 

source,  and  those  yet  to  come  are  innumerable."  | 


SURVEY    OF    RESULTS.  113 

3.  The  Promotion  of  Learning  was  not  the  least  ben- 
efit conferred  upon  the  world  by  the  Reformation. 
Cultured  men  were  its  first  advocates.  The  universi- 
ties were  the  cradles  of  Protestantism.  Wherever  su- 
perstition and  other  abnormal  tendencies  appeared,  the 
Reformers  promptly  rebuked  them.  The  translation 
of  the  Scriptures  had  the  effect  to  formulate  and  solid- 
ify the  languages  as  no  other  literary  movement  had 
been  able  to  do.  Wycliffe's  Bible  preserved  the  Saxon 
tongue,  and  our  Authorized  Version,  or  King  James's 
version,  shows  its  constant  dependence  upon  his  trans- 
lation. Luther  found  the  German  a  mere  conglomera- 
tion of  rude  and  coarse  dialects,  and,  in  his  translation 
of  the  Bible,  he  grouped  the  best  and  purest  idioms, 
and,  for  the  first  time,  made  the  German  a  unit. 

4.  Literature. — Universities  sprang  up  throughout 
Germany  as  an  innnediate  fruit  of  the  Reformation. 
The  University  of  Leyden  was  the  first  creation  of  the 
new  nation,  which  was  born  after  the  siege  of  that  city 
was  raised,  and  the  Spanish  troops  left  the  land.  Not  un- 
til now,  and  then  only  as  a  fruit  of  the  Reformation,  was 
the  Gospel  generally  preached  in  the  popular  language. 
When  (Ecolampadius,  in  1522,  began  to  preach  in  Ger- 
man, in  the  castle  of  Franz  von  Sickingen,  even  the 
friends  of  the  reform  regarded  it  as  a  dangerous  pro- 
cedure. His  friend,  Caspar  Hedio,  for  example,  thought 
it  hurrying  matters  too  rapidly.  In  1515  Leo  X.  issued 
his  prohibition  against  the  printing  and  publication  of 
all  books  translated  from  the  Greek,  the  Hebrew,  and 
the  Arabic  languages,  but  when  the  Reformation  was 
once  in  progress  the  printing-press  was  free.  The 
study  of  all  the  languages  became  a  new  fascina- 
tion, which  no  edict  could  destroy.  Public  schools 
were  introduced,  though  crudely  at  first,  in  Germany, 


114  SHORT    HISTOKY    OF   THE    REFORMATIOX. 

directly  through  Luther's  labors.  The  intermediate 
schools,  between  the  lower  and  highest  education,  were 
established.  The  German  gymnasium  of  our  times 
owes  its  real  origin  to  the  period  of  the  Reformation. 
During  the  centuries  since  the  Reformation  over 
twenty  universities,  three  fourths  of  which  are  Protes- 
tant, have  been  founded  in  Germany  alone.  Holland 
has  built  up,  in  addition  to  the  University  of  Leydcn, 
five  other  universities,  and  all  are  the  direct  result  of 
her  Protestantism.  Everywhere,  where  the  Reforma- 
tion triumphed  and  became  a  permanent  force,  the 
cause  of  education,  good  morals,  and  political  liberty 
advanced  securely  and  rapidly. 


Chapter  XIX. 

THE    400th    anniversary    OF    LUTHER's    BIRTH. 

The  Memories  of  the  Reformation  have  been  renewed 
by  the  celebration  on  November  11,  1883,  of  the  400th 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Luther.  The  day  was  ob- 
served with  becoming  festivities  in  all  the  Protestant 
countries  of  the  world.  In  Germany,  as  might  be 
expected,  the  enthusiasm  was  more  intense  than  any- 
where else.  In  Berlin  there  was  a  procession  of  chil- 
dren, numbering  nearly  one  hundred  thousand,  to  whom 
the  Emperor  William  distributed  copies  of  the  works 
of  the  Reformer.  Services  were  held  in  all  the  Prot- 
estant churches,  and  eulogies  were  pronounced  on  Lu- 
ther and  his  achievements  in  behalf  of  all  Teutonic 
peoples.  In  anticipation  of  November  11,  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Prussia,  Frederic  William,  proceeded  to  Wit- 
tenberg, taking  with  him  a  laurel  wreath,  which,  amid 
the  silence  of  the  multitude,  he  laid  upon  Luther's 
grave,  in  the  floor  of  the  Castle  Church.  Immediately 
afterwards  the  people  sang  Luther's  martial  hymn, 
which  was  caught  up  by  the  throngs  in  the  streets  and 
along  the  country  roads.  In  Eisenach,  which  claimed 
the  honor  of  having  discovered  Luther's  genius  when 
a  choir-boy  singing  for  his  bread,  the  festivities  were 
such  as  to  attract  people  from  every  part  of  the  Thu- 
ringian  Forest.  In  Eisleben,  where  he  was  born  and 
died,  there  was  a  popular  rejoicing  not  excelled  in  any 
part  of  Germany.     The  entire  day  was  devoted  to  the 


116  SHORT    HISTORY    OF    THE    REFORMATIOX. 

celebration.  The  nobility  and  peasantry  vied  ^vitll 
each  other  in  doing  honor  to  the  miner's  son.  Scenic 
representations,  in  which  all  the  leading  participants  of 
the  Reformation  were  personified,  and  marched  at  the 
head  of  a  great  procession  through  the  streets,  consti- 
tuted the  chief  feature  of  the  ceremonies  by  which  the 
quaint  town  did  honor  to  its  own  child.  Even  the  Old 
Catholics  of  Germany,  through  the  example  and  en- 
couraging words  of  Dollinger,  paid  a  tribute  to  Lu- 
ther's memory,  because  of  the  service  he  had  done  to 
the  language  and  spiritual  life  of  the  Fatherland. 

In  all  the  Slavic  and  Scandinavian  countries  the  same 
regard  was  paid  to  the  memory  of  Luther.  Even  in  the 
very  lands  where  his  writings  had  been  burned,  wher- 
ever a  little  Protestant  society  exists,  by  whatever  de- 
nominational name  it  may  be  called,  religious  services 
were  held  and  tributes  to  the  Reformer  pronounced. 
Such  celebrations  were  observed  in  Spain,  where  the 
Protestants  in  Madrid,  Barcelona,  Seville,  Bilboa,  and 
other  cities  united  with  their  brethren  in  Germany  and 
the  whole  world  in  honoring  Luther's  name  and  memory. 
In  Paris  and  other  parts  of  France,  where  his  doctrines 
had  been  despised,  and  from  which  Calvin,  and,  later, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Huguenots,  had  been  driven, 
the  same  rejoicings  took  place.  In  Italy,  there  was  a 
thoroughly  organized  plan  to  celebrate  the  Reformer's 
birthday  wherever  Protestantism  had  gained  a  foot- 
hold. In  Florence  there  was  first  an  immense  chil- 
dren's meeting,  which  was  followed  by  a  general  gath- 
ering, where  missionaries  from  foreign  countries  united 
with  the  "Waldenses  and  other  native  Protestants,  each 
making  an  address  in  his  own  language,  and  the  peo- 
ple singing  Luther's  hymn  in  Italian  : 

"  Forte  Rocca  4  il  nostro  Dio." 


THE    40UT1I    ANMVERSAllY    OF    LUTHER  S    BIRTH.      117 

In  Rome  a  large  memorial  service  was  held,  where  a  ser- 
mon was  preached,  addresses  made,  and  hymns  sung.  In 
Naples  there  w^as  a  similar  celebration,  where  represen- 
tatives of  the  Protestantism  of  many  countries  united 
in  doing  honor  to  the  memory  of  Luther.  Even  as 
far  south  as  Sicily,  w^here,  in  the  16th  century,  it  w^as 
certain  death  to  profess  sympathy  with  the  Witten- 
berg heretic,  there  w^as  a  large  meeting  in  Palermo, 
under  the  presidency  of  the  venerable  patriot,  Em- 
manuele  Sartorio.  In  the  United  States  all  Protestant 
denominations  united  in  doing  honor  to  the  memory 
of  Luther.  Every  department  of  his  great  w^ork  and 
character  was  made  the  subject  of  special  considera- 
tion, in  churches  from  the  Atlantic  across  to  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean.  It  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  growing  inter- 
est, even  in  secular  circles,  that,  on  the  morning  follow- 
ing this  unique  celebration  in  Eisleben,  all  the  details 
appeared  in  both  English  and  German  in  the  New  York 
daily  papers.  History  nowhere  furnishes  a  higher  trib- 
ute to  the  recognition  of  the  worth  of  the  w^orker  for 
his  fellow^men  than  in  the  fact  that  multitudes  of 
Americans  gathered  in  the  churches  and  public  halls 
to  recall  in  gratitude  and  love  the  life  and  service  of  a 
miner's  son,  who  w^as  born  Avhen  there  was  not  a  Chris- 
tian on  this  Continent,  and  nine  years  before  Colum- 
bus set  out  on  the  voyage  that  led  to  its  discovery. 


INDEX. 


American  Union,  the,  largely  indebted  to  the  struggle  for  Reform  in  Eu-  ' 

rope,  112.  ; 

Argyropylus,  John,  19.  • 
Aristotle,  summary  of  his  theology,  15. 
Articles  of  faith  established  by  Parliament  in  1538,  70. 

A  ^ceticism :  self-torture  of  Henry  Suso,  9.  - 

Augsburg  Confession,  the,  43.  ■ 
Augsburg,  Diet  of,  43. 

Avignon,  removal  of  Papal  See  to,  23.  : 

"  Babylon  Captivity,"  the,  23. 

Bartholomew,  St.,  the  massacre  of,  92.  1 

Basel :  an  important  centre  of  Protestant  agitation,  55;  Council  of,  23,  25;  i 

sojourn  of  Erasmus  in,  55.  \ 

Beatoun,  Cardinal,  80.  i 
"  Beggars'  League,"  the,  87. 

Berne :  a  centre  for  the  dissemination  of  the  new  doctrines,  56.  ■ 

Beza,  Theodore,  his  work  and  theology,  G3.  i 

Bible,  the :  Coverdale's  translation  of,  72 ;  Matthew's  version  of,  73  ;  pub-  \ 

lication  of,  in  the  mother  tongue,  most  powerful  in  effecting  the  Eng-  j 

lish  Reformation,  72 ;  Tyndale's  translation,  72. 
Black  Death,  the,  in  Strasbnrg,  11. 

"  Brothers  of  the  Common  Lite,"  the,  14,  84.  ^ 

Brown,  Robert,  78.  i 
Brownists,  the,  78. 

Bugenhagen,  Johann,  50.  1 

\ 
Calvin,  John :   arrival  in  Basel,  69  ;   birth,  education,  and  writings,  57  ; 

Genevese  Church,  the  organizer  of  the,  61 ;  recalled  to  Geneva,  62;  '{ 

settlement  in  Geneva,  59.  '. 

Chalkondylas,  Demetrius,  19.  j 

Character,  personal,  of  Martin  Luther,  37.  { 

Charles  Y.,  Emperor  of  Gerraanv,  attitude  of,  towards  the  Reformers,  3,  1 

33. 


120  INDEX. 

Christianity,  opinion  in  Italy  generally  hostile  to,  20. 

Church,  the  purification  of  the,  the  first  aim  of  the  lieformers,  2. 

Classics,  revival  of  the,  19. 

Clemanges,  Nicholas,  great  advance  of,  in  reformatory  methods,  6. 

Clement  V.,  removes  papal  See  from  Rome  to  Avignon,  23. 

Clergy,  morals  of  the,  at  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation,  2. 

Colet,  John,  70. 

Coligny,  Admiral,  murder  of,  92. 

Conrad,  Abbot  of  Kaisersheim,  14. 

Constantinople,  the  capture  of,  by  the  Turks,  forms  an  epocli,  18. 

Councils,  the  Reformatory,  23. 

Cranach,  Lucas,  50. 

Cranmer,  Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury :  the  adviser  of  Edward  VI., 

7G ;  character  and  influence  of,  71 ;  his  recantation,  71. 
Culture,  the  spread  of,  north  of  the  Alps,  hastened  the  Reformation,  20. 

D'Ailly,  Peter,  influence  of,  5. 

Danger  to  French  Protestantism  from  the  alliance  between  France  and 

'Rome,  90. 
Darnloy,  Lord,  death  of,  81. 

Death,  constant  risk  of,  incurred  by  the  Reformers,  3. 
Denmark,  Protestantism  introduced  into,  107. 
Diet  of  Augsburg,  43. 

Diet  of  Worms,  the,  32;  decree  of,  against  Luther,  34. 
Dread  of  the  German  Reformation  in  France,  89.  I 

Dutch  forerunner  of  Reform,  tlie  :  John  of  Goch,  15.  | 

Dutcli   Republic,  the,  born  of  the  effort  to  secure  freedom  of  conscience,  j 

111. 

Eastern  cantons  of  Switzerland,  the  religious  conflict  in  the,  54. 

Eckart,  Master:  drift  of  his  teaching,  8;  Tauler  a  disciple  of,  10. 

Edict  of  Nantes,  the,  93;  revocation  of,  94. 

Edict  of  \Yorms,  the,  85. 

Edward  YI.  of  England  :  death  of,  7G  ;  the  reaction  under,  75. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  becomes  ruler  of  both  England  and  Scotland,  81.  | 

England,  early  attempts  at  Reformation  in,  GG. 

English  Reformation,  the,  G7. 

Erasmus:   his  "Paraphrase  of  the  Scriptures,"  73 ;  his  sojourn  in  Basel, 

55,  87;  Avritings  of,  circulated  south  of  the  Pyrenees,  103.  | 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  21,  8G.  I 

Exile  of  Italian  Protestants,  100.  ; 

i 

Faith,  Luther's,  42.  ; 

Final  triumph  of  the  Reformation,  77.  , 

France  :  dread  of  the  German  Reformation  in,  89,  90 ;  the  Reformation  in,  , 

89, 90.  I 

French  Protestantism,  danger  to,  from  the  Romish  alliance,  90.  j 

J 


INDEX.  121 

Friendship  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  46,  47. 

"  Friends  of  God,"  the,  14. 

Fruits  of  the  Reformation,  the,  111. 

Gaza,  Theodore,  19. 

Geneva:  struggle  for  possession  of,  5G;  the  "  Libertines"  of,  61. 

George  of  Trapezium,  19. 

German  Reformation,  the,  27 ;  dread  of,  in  France,  89,  90. 

German  Reform,  Zwingli's  variations  from  the,  54. 

Germany:  native  country  of  the  Mystics,  8;  organization  of  the  Protestant 

Church  in,  43. 
Gerson,  Jean  Charlier,  prominence  of,  5. 
God,  love,  insisted  on  by  the  "Friends  of  God,"  15. 
Groot,  Gerhard,  84. 

Hamilton,  Patrick,  80. 

Hanse  Towns,  the,  and  their  influence  on  Protestantism,  111. 

Helvetic  Confession,  the  second,  G3. 

Henry  of  Navarre  ascends  tlie  throne  of  France,  93. 

Heralds  of  Protestantism,  the,  1,  4. 

Holland:  persecutions  of  the  Protestants  in,  3;  prompt  reception  of  the 
Reform  doctrines  in,  16  ;  spirit  of  Reform  early  shown  in,  15. 

Huguenots,  the:  many  settle  in  America,  112;  opposition  to  the,  91;  pre- 
text for  the  massacre  of,  92;  rapid  spread  of,  91;  the  Paris  theolo- 
gians the  precursors  of  the,  7. 

Huguenot  uprising,  the,  93. 

Humanism:  in  Europe  at  large,  20;  in  Italy,  17;  religious  tendency  of, 
in  Italy,  20 ;  sceptical,  97. 

Hungary  and  Transylvania,  the  Reformation  in,  110, 

Huss,  John  :  birth,  teachings,  and  death,  108. 

Hussite  Preparation,  the,  108. 

Hutten,  Ulrich  von,  50. 

Hymns,  the,  of  Luther,  40. 

Iceland,  the  Reformation  in,  107. 

Ignorance  of  the  common  people  at  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation,  2. 

Independents,  the,  77. 

Indulgences,  sale  of,  in  Germany,  31. 

Inquisition,  the,  85;  suppression  of  Spanish  Protestantism  by  the,  104. 

Italy:  Humanism  in,  17;  Humanism  native  to  that  country,  97;  influx  of 
Protestant  books  into,  under  changed  titles,  96 ;  prepared  for  the  great 
reform  by  Savonarola,  95;  Protestants  of,  driven  into  exile,  100;  the 
Reformation  in,  96;  v/ar  between  Germany  and,  96;  women  greatly 
promote  the  Reformation  in,  98. 

John  of  Goch, "  the  Dutch  forerunner  of  Reform,"  his  system  of  doctrine,  15. 
Jonas,  Justus,  50. 


122  INDEX. 

Julian  the  Apostate :  leniency  of,  towards  the  faiths  of  the  later  Roman 

Empire,  3. 
"  Junker  Georg,"  36. 

Knox,  John,  82 ;  natural  successor  to  Hamilton,  82 ;  his  studies,  preaching, 

and  death,  83. 
Kostnitz,  Council  of,  23,  24. 

Lascaris,  Constantine,  19. 

Latin  classics,  revival  of  the,  19. 

Learning,  promotion  of,  one  of  the  boons  conferred  by  the  Reformation,  113. 

Letters,  the  European  revival  of,  17 ;  the  Greek  and  Latin  revival  of,  fa- 
vored by  the  Italian  princes,  19. 

Leyden,  the  University  of,  113. 

"Libertines,"  the,  of  Geneva,  Gl. 

Literature,  a  revival  of,  the  immediate  fruit  of  the  Reformation,  113. 

"  Loci  Theologici  "  of  Melanchthon,  the,  43. 

Ludwig  of  Bavaria,  24. 

Luther,  Martin:  his  "Address  to  the  Nobles  of  the  German  People,"  32 ; 
the  ascetic  life  of,  30;  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  116; 
death  of,  44 ;  his  wise  plans  for  an  ecclesiastical  polity,  43 ;  the  fervent 
faith  of,  42 ;  home  and  school  life,  27,  28 ;  hymns  and  other  works,  40 ; 
the  sale  of  indulgences  arouses  his  indignation,  31 ;  labors  and  per- 
sonal character,  37 ;  the  leader  of  the  Reformation,  27 ;  literarj'  labors 
of,  39 ;  translations  of  New  and  Old  Testaments,  30 ;  his  sojourn  in 
"  Patmos,"  36 ;  personal  characteristics,  41 ;  freedom  from  political  en- 
tanglements, 4  ;  private  life  of,  44  ;  his  famous  reply  to  a  theologian, 
41 ;  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  30 ;  scrupulous  care  in  translating  the  Scrip- 
tures, 40;  his  ninety-five  theses,  31;  university  life  of,  29;  his  so- 
journ in  the  Wartburg,  38  ;  career  in  Wittenberg,  29;  works  of,  pub- 
licly burned  in  France,  90;  his  summons  to  Worms,  33 ;  writings  of, 
circulated  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  103;  writings  of,  welcomed  in  the 
Netherlands,  85. 

Mary,  Queen  of  England,  76. 

Mary,  Qneen  of  Scots,  80 ;  connives  at  the  death  of  Darnley,  81 ;  her  flight 
to  England,  81 ;  gives  offense  to  Scotch  Calvinists,  81. 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  92. 

Medici,  the,  19. 

Melanchthon,  Philip,  45 ;  called  to  Wittenberg,  45,  46  ;  draws  up  the  Augs- 
burg Confession,  43  ;  friendship  of,  for  Luther,  46  ;  industry  and  hon- 
esty of,  48 ;  labors  and  teaching  of,  46 ;  the  "  Loci  Theologici"  of, 43  ; 
widespread  fame  of,  45. 

Melanchthon  and  the  other  German  Reformers,  45. 

Moravians,  the,  108. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  21 ;  great  influence  of,  70. 

Moschopylus,  Emanuel,  19. 


INDEX.  123 

Mysticism,  Spanish,  102. 

Mystics,  the :  attached  too  little  importance  to  the  written  word,  7 ; 
"  Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,"  the,  14 ;  "  Friends  of  God,"  the,  14 ; 
Hugo,  aims  of  the  teaching  of,  12 ;  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, 7 ;  Eichard,  opinions  of,  12 ;  Victor,  St.,  school  of,  12. 

Nantes,  the  Edict  of,  93 ;  revoked,  94. 

Netherlands,  the :   complete  preparation  for  the  Reformation  in  the,  84 ; 

cruelty  of  Charles  V.  to  the  people  of  the,  85 ;  the  Reformation  in  the, 

84,  85. 
Norway,  Protestantism  introduced  into,  107. 

Qi^colampadius,  leader  of  Protestantism  in  Basel,  55. 
Opposition  to  the  Huguenots  in  France,  91. 
Organization  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Germany,  43. 

Paleario,  Antonio,  burned,  99. 

Papal  Reformers,  the,  4. 

Pardon,  tickets  of,  31. 

Paris  theologians,  the,  precursors  of  the  Huguenots,  7. 

Paris,  the  University  of,  5. 

"  Patmos,"  Luther  in,  37. 

Peasants'  War,  the,  38. 

Personal  characteristics  of  Luther,  41. 

Peter  Martyr,  100. 

Peterson,  Olaf  and  Laurence,  the  first  native  Swedish  Reformers,  106. 

Pisa,  the  Council  of,  23,  24. 

Philip  the  Fair,  of  France,  arrests  Pope  Boniface  VHL,  23. 

Pilgrims,  the  Puritan,  78 ;  departure  from  Holland,  78. 

Pletho,  Gemistius,  19. 

Poland,  Protestantism  in,  109. 

Popes,  the  rival,  24. 

Portugal:  Protestantism  suppressed  by  the  Inquisition  in,  104;  the  Refor- 
mation in,  103. 

Printing,  the  invention  of,  favorable  to  the  new  intellectual  departure,  21. 

Private  life  of  Luther,  the,  44. 

Protestant  books  find  their  way  to  Italy,  96. 

Protestant  Church,  organization  of,  in  Germany,  43. 

Protestant  doctrines,  spread  of,  in  Italy,  98. 

Protestantism  :  basis  of,  solid  and  newly  laid,  2  ;  growth  of,  1 ;  in  Hungary 
and  Transylvania,  111;  rendered  the  masses  self-asserting,  111 ;  op- 
pression of,  by  Rome,  99 ;  suppressed  by  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  104. 

Protestantism,  the  heralds  of,  1,  4. 

Puritan  Pilgrims,  the,  78. 

Radewin,  Florentius,  84. 

Reform,  Dutch  forerunner  of  the,  15  ;  obscure  pioneers  of,  in  religious  life,  2. 


124  INDEX. 

Reformation,  the :  causes  of  failure  of,  in  the  Spanish  peninsula,  104, 
105 ;  the  chief  turning-point  in  modern  history,  1 ;  danger  to,  from 
its  friends,  37  ;  development  of,  slow  and  unattractive,  1 ;  early  Eng- 
lish literature  of,  73;  English  language  banished  from  public  services, 
76;  English  Reformation — first  period,  66;  second  period,  75;  ground 
of  its  failure  in  France,  6;  final  triumph  of,  77;  fostered  educa- 
tion, good  morals,  and  political  liberty,  114;  the  struggle  in  France, 
89;  the  various  friends  and  helpers  of,  49;  the  struggle  in  Germany, 
27;  the  new  faith  in  Hungary  and  Transylvania,  110;  in  German 
Switzerland,  51 ;  Henry  VIH.'s  patronage  of,  68  ;  influence  of  British 
sovereigns  upon,  75 ;  Queen  Mary,  reign  of,  76 ;  the  new  faith  in  the 
Netherlands,  84 ;  Protestantism  in  Poland,  109;  political  condition  of 
Switzerland  favorable  to,  51 ;  the  invention  of  printing  favorable 
to,  21;  progress  of,  in  French  Switzerland,  56;  reaction  in  England 
under  Edward  VI.,  75  ;  the  Reformation  the  mother  of  republics,  111 ; 
spread  of  culture  north  of  the  Al[)s  favorable  to,  20;  women  greatly 
promote  the  reform  in  Italy,  98. 

Reformatory  Councils,  the,  23. 

Reformers,  mission  of  the  Dutch,  10. 

Reformers  of  Geneva  and  the  "  Libertines,"  01. 

Reformers:  the  Papal,  4;  the  Scottish,  80. 

Results  of  the  Reformation,  survey  of  the.  111,  112. 

Reuchlin,  John,  21. 

Richard  of  St.  Victor,  13. 

Robinson,  John,  78. 

Ruysbroek,  John,  far-reaching  power  of,  9. 

Savonarola,  Girolarao  :  birth,  preaching,  and  death,  96  ;  prepared  Italy  foi 
the  Reformation,  95. 

Savoy,  the  friendly  princes  of,  49. 

Scandinavia,  groundwork  of  Protestantism  in,  106;  the  Reformation  in, 
107. 

Sceptical  Humanism,  the,  97. 

Schools  of  Deventer  and  Herzogenbusch,  84. 

Sclavic  lands,  the  Reformation  in,  109. 

Scottish  Reformation,  the,  81. 

Scottish  Reformers,  the,  80. 

Sikingcn,  Franz  von,  50. 

Smalcald,  convention  at,  43. 

Spain,  religious  despotism  in,  102;  spread  of  the  Reformation  in,  103. 

Strasburg,  the  Black  Death  in,  11. 

Suppression  of  Protestantism  ordered  by  Rome,  99. 

Suso,  Henry,  theology  and  teaching  of,  9,  10. 

Switzerland:  the  second  Helvetic  Confession,  03;  political  condition  of. 
51;  religious  contlict  in  the  eastern  cantons,  54;  the  Reformation 
in  French  Switzerland,  56,  the  Reformation  in  German  Switzer- 
land, 51. 


INDEX.  125 

Tauler,  John  :  preaching  of,  during  the  plague  in  Strasburg,  11 ;  writings 

of,  11,  12  ;  zeal,  doctrines,  preaching,  and  influence  of,  10, 11. 
Theologians,  the  Paris,  6. 
Theses,  the  ninety-live,  of  Luther,  31,  32. 

Universities,  the  English,  Protestant  teachers  ejected  from,  76. 
Universities  in  Germany  the  outcome  of  the  Reformation,  113. 
Uprising  of  the  Huguenots,  the,  93. 

Valla,  Laurentius,  19. 

Victor,  St.,  teachings  and  attitude  of  the  school  of,  12. 

War  between  Germany  and  Italy,  96. 
Wartburg,  Luther  leaves  the,  38. 
Worms,  the  Diet  at,  32. 
Worms,  the  Edict  of,  85. 

WycliflFe,  John :  attacks  on,  66 ;  his  English  Bible,  67 ;  his  writings  con- 
demned, 67. 

Zwickau  Prophets,  the,  37. 

Zvvingli,  Ulrich,  51 ;  early  life  and  training,  52 ;  opposition  excited  by  his 
teachings,  53 ;  removes  to  Zurich,  53  ;  his  rupture  with  Rome,  52. 


THE    ENDo 


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Short  history  of  the  reformation. 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


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